Reform MP James McMurdock has suspended himself from the occasion.
In a press release, Reform chief whip Lee Anderson stated it’s over allegations round his enterprise affairs revealed in a nationwide newspaper. Mr McMurdock has denied any wrongdoing.
The assertion stated: “I’ve at present acquired a name from James McMurdock who has suggested me, as Chief Whip, that he has eliminated the occasion whip from himself pending the end result of an investigation into allegations which are more likely to be revealed by a nationwide newspaper.
“The allegations relate to enterprise propriety through the pandemic and earlier than he grew to become an MP.
“At Reform UK we take these issues very critically and James has agreed to cooperate in full with any investigation.
“We is not going to be commenting additional at this second.”
A Sunday Instances article claims that corporations he owned acquired a complete of £70,000 from the federal government’s Covid Bounce Again mortgage scheme regardless of being successfully dormant.
One had no staff and negligible property however borrowed £50,000, the paper studies. That meant it ought to have had a turnover of £200,000.
One other was dormant till January 31, 2020. Over the next yr, it borrowed £20,000, which might have required turnover of £100,000 beneath the Bounce Again scheme.
Neither filed accounts or company filings after the loans, which the paper says is a violation of the Corporations Act.
In his personal assertion Mr McMurdock stated he had informed a journalist engaged on the story that “all my enterprise dealings had at all times been performed absolutely throughout the regulation and in compliance with all rules”.
The MP wrote in a publish on X that he had requested for the whip to be suspended as a “precautionary measure” and “for the safety of Reform UK”.
Mr McMurdock joined Reform UK in 2024 after having labored within the banking sector. In final yr’s general election, he was elected because the MP for South Basildon and East Thurrock.
He beat Labour by a whisker, successful by 98 votes, taking the seat from the Conservatives.
It marks the most recent incident of a Reform MP having the occasion whip eliminated. Rupert Lowe was suspended in March over alleged threats of bodily violence in the direction of the occasion’s then chairman Zia Yusuf.
The allegations had been then referred to the Metropolitan Police, who later stated Mr Lowe would not be charged.
The MP for Nice Yarmouth has at all times denied wrongdoing and claimed he was the sufferer of a witch hunt after talking out in opposition to occasion chief Nigel Farage within the media.
