Who is James McMurdock? What has the Reform MP done?

James McMurdock, the South Basildon and East Thurrock, 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,” Reform UK chief whip Lee Anderson has said in a statement.

Who is James McMurdock?

McMurdock, 39, is from Basildon in Essex, and after attending a state school went to the University of Sussex to read economics.

He worked in banking for Standard Chartered Bank and Barclays Capital from 2007 until he became an MP last year, and also spent time at Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers, specialising in corporate loans.

He joined Reform UK in May last year, and after seeing that the party needed candidates for the July election, agreed to stand in Basildon as a paper candidate. Despite a low-budget campaign, he defeated the Tory incumbent Stephen Metcalfe by 98 votes. It meant he became one of five Reform MPs elected a year ago.

He is Reform’s chief whip, hence his action in removing the whip from himself. This means he is temporarily not a Reform MP.

What has James McMurdock done?

The allegations are not yet in the public domain but concern business “propriety” during Covid.

In a statement published on Reform’s X account on Saturday afternoon, Mr 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.”

Has James McMurdock been in trouble before?

Yes - In 2006, James McMurdock, then 19, was convicted of assault on an ex-girlfriend. McMurdock was working as a barman at the time of the assault, which happened outside a nightclub in Chelmsford. He admitted one count of assault at Chelmsford Crown Court and spent 21 days in a young offenders institution.