murray joined the civil service in 1929 as an assistant principal in the air ministry, and was private secretary to the permanent secretary of the air ministry from 1931-1937. he graduated from the imperial defence college in 1938. murray was recruited by lord selborne into the special operations executive in november 1943 to work in the vice-chief's office as an officer on special duties at london hq. he became an administrative head organising sabotage and resistance in occupied countries during the second world war. his service number was 15724, and his classification symbol was v/cd2 from november 1943 and d/cd from january 1944. after the war he was under secretary in the ministry of fuel and power from 1946. murray was head of the electricity division of the ministry for the exceptionally long period from 1947 to 1959, therefore during the nationalisation of the electricity industry in 1948, and the early stages of the development of the british civil nuclear power programme in the late 1950s. at the suggestion of lord citrine, the chairman of the british electricity authority (bea), murray attended the majority of the meetings between the bea and the area board chairmen. he was thus able to convey government thinking to them informally, while sometimes receiving information off the record and relaying signals back to whitehall. the sponsorship role of the electricity division led to murray becoming not so much a controller of the industry as an honest broker between the central authority and the whitehall machine generally. murray was director of establishments ministry of power 1959-61 and deputy secretary ministry of power 1961-65. he retired from the civil service in 1965.