Jeremy William Bray (29 June 1930 – 31 May 2002) was a BritishLabour politician and aMember of Parliament for 31 years.

Bray was born inBritish Hong Kong, the son of Reverend Arthur Bray, a Methodist missionary. He spent his formative years inFoshan, until he and his family were evacuated by gunboat prior to the arrival of the Japanese army in 1941.^[1] Returning to Britain, he attended Eastnor Village School, Aberystwyth Grammar School,Kingswood School, Bath (1942–48) andJesus College, Cambridge, where he graduated as aWrangler in 1953. Staying on at Cambridge to conduct doctoral research in pure mathematics under the supervision ofJ. E. Littlewood, he spent a year abroad as a Choate Fellow atHarvard University in 1955–56.^[1]

Bray's first job upon leaving Cambridge was as a technical officer at theImperial Chemical Industries works in Wilton, Teesside, where he advised his superiors to invest in the purchase of the plant's first computer.^[1] In the 1970s his interests turned more firmly towards statistics and econometrics, and from 1971 to 1974 he was the co-director of a research programme on econometric methods atQueen Mary College andImperial College, London.^[2] He also spent some time working as a research officer at the Department of Applied Economics at theUniversity of Cambridge, collaborating with the futureNobel LaureateProfessor Sir Richard Stone andTerry Barker on the Cambridge Growth Project.

Bray unsuccessfully contestedThirsk and Malton for Labour in 1959. He was first elected as MP forMiddlesbrough West ina 1962 by-election. DuringHarold Wilson's second term in office Bray was parliamentary secretary at theMinistry of Power (1966–67) andMinistry of Technology (1967–69), serving underRichard Marsh andTony Benn respectively.^[1] Middlesbrough West remained a highly marginal seat, however, and he was defeated in his attempt to be re-elected as an MP at the1970 general election.

Following a four-year hiatus, Bray was then returned as MP forMotherwell and Wishaw from October 1974 to 1983, and forMotherwell South from 1983 until his retirement in 1997. Chosen by the Motherwell Labour Party as their candidate because of his steel industry expertise, during this second spell in parliament Bray was noted for his unflagging efforts to save theRavenscraig steelworks from closure. He was the Opposition Spokesman on Science and Technology from 1983 to 1992.^[2]

Bray married his wife Elizabeth in 1953 and had four daughters. A Methodistlay preacher, he was deputy chairman ofChristian Aid from 1972 to 1984.^[1] His elder brother,Denis Bray, was a senior civil servant in colonial-era Hong Kong.

Bray underwent major heart surgery in 1991, and afterwards was in increasingly poor health.^[1] He died of heart failure at his home inLinton, Cambridgeshire, on 31 May 2002.^[1][3] His autobiography,Standing on the Shoulders of Giants, was published posthumously by his wife in 2004.^[4]

• Times Guide to the House of Commons, Times Newspapers Limited, 1966, 1992 and 1997 editions
• Obituary of Jeremy Bray,The Guardian

• Hansard 1803–2005:contributions in Parliament by Jeremy Bray
• The Papers of Jeremy Bray held atChurchill Archives Centre, Cambridge

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