James McMurdock has become the second Reform UK MP elected in the 2024 General Election to now sit as an independent in the House of Commons.
The announcement, which comes just months after Rupert Lowe’s departure, brings the number of Reform MPs down to four – with a by-election victory for Sarah Pochin in May briefly restoring Farage’s Commons contingent to full complement.
Having only joined Reform UK just a few weeks before polls opened, many were surprised when the fresh-faced former City flier won in South Basildon & East Thurrock by just 98 votes.
McMurdock did not expect to win the contest, initially agreeing to stand as a paper candidate.
READ IN FULL:Reform UK MP James McMurdock surrenders party whip pending investigation
However, an active TikTok campaign helped transform his chances of winning from slim to something much greater.
Following his knife-edge victory, which came after three recounts, McMurdock said: “It’s an absolute privilege and the gravity of responsibility is not lost on me.”
The 39-year-old father-of-four soon after joined Reform’s four other MPs – Nigel Farage, Richard Tice, Lee Anderson and Rupert Lowe – on the green House of Commons benches.
In his maiden speech, McMurdock said: “I have the privilege to stand and champion the core values that so many from my home hold dear: independence, equality of opportunity, upward social mobility, courage, long suffering, honesty and forgiveness.”
LATEST ON REFORM UK:
PA
Since entering the House of Commons, McMurdock has made 40 spoken contributions – ranging from sepsis to social housing and rape gangs to the Lower Thames Crossing.
McMurdock also delivered a speech to 4,000 Reform UK members at the NEC in Birmingham last year.
He revealed how he wrote to Chancellor Rachel Reeves to urge the Government to prioritise pensioners over foreign aid when it comes to now-shelved plans to axe Winter Fuel Payments.
However, the otherwise unknown MP posed a problem for Farage shortly after the 2024 General Election.
Sarah Pochin, the newly elected MP for Runcorn and Helsby, is joined by her fellow Reform UK MPs
PA
McMurdock, who was 19 at the time, was convicted of assault against an ex-girlfriend in 2006.
The assault, which The Times revealed involved the victim being kicked four times, happened outside a nightclub in Chelmsford, Essex.
Following a guilty plea to one count of assault, McMurdock spent 21 days in a young offenders institution.
The conviction, which McMurdock initially described as an act of “teenage indiscretion”, was not disclosed until after the 2024 General Election, prompting allegations that McMurdock had “misled” the public.
Reform UK MP, James McMurdock, arrives at the House of Commons in Westminster
PA
Tory MP Ben Obese-Jecty later described McMurdock as a “convicted criminal already in our midst” when the House of Commons debated whether those found guilty of violence against women should be barred from running for Parliament.
Speaking at Reform’s East of England conference, McMurdock said: “I would like to do my best to do as little harm to everyone else and at the same time accept that I was a bad person for a moment back then.
“I’m doing my best to manage the fact that something really regrettable did happen.”
Following initial reports, Reform UK stressed that “James is ashamed of his past but his life since that time is a story of redemption”.
Reform UK MPs elected in the 2024 General Election
PA
The 39-year-old was also described as forming a “successful family and business life”.
Echoing those remarks, Farage added: “He was a teenager and he did something he should not have done. He was out of control. That conviction is now spent.
“From that very unpromising start in life he went on and got himself qualified. He became a bond trader in the city of London.
“He’s happily married with his fifth child on the way and has become an MP.
“If in a country that believes in Christian forgiveness he is not a good example to young tearaways then I don’t know what is.”
However, the Reform UK leader also revealed that McMurdock “wasn’t vetted” and stopped short of confirming if he would pass the procedure following the revelations.
Reform UK chief whip Lee Anderson today confirmed that McMurdock had removed the whip from himself over allegations relating to business propriety during the pandemic.
He 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.
“At Reform UK, we take these matters very seriously and James has agreed to cooperate in full with any investigation. We will not be commenting further at this moment.”