Reform UK MP James McMurdock Gives Up Party Whip Over Covid Loans Allegations

A Reform UK MP has suspended himself from the party over allegations about “business propriety during the pandemic”.

James McMurdock removed the whip from himself after being contacted by The Sunday Times.

The paper approached him about £70,000 in government Covid “bounce back” loans he allegedly took out in 2020 and 2021 for two firms he owned.

In a statement, Reform MP Lee Anderson said: “I have today received a call from James McMurdock who has advised me, as chief whip, that he has removed the party whip from himself pending the outcome of an investigation into allegations that are likely to be published by a national newspaper.

“The allegations relate to business propriety during the pandemic and before he became an MP.”

He said the party “take these matters very seriously and James has agreed to cooperate in full with any investigation”.

McMurdock was elected the MP for South Basildon and East Thurrock last year.

It later emerged that he was jailed nearly 20 years ago for repeatedly kicking his then girlfriend.

At the time, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said he was “a fine young man who’s turned out really very, very well”.

McMurdock is the second of the five Reform MPs elected last July to no longer have the party whip.

Rupert Lowe was suspended by the party in March amid allegations of bullying, which he denied, and now also sits as an independent MP in the Commons.