The former Reform UK MP James McMurdock has suggested he will permanently quit the party after receiving legal advice about his business conduct related to Covid loans.
McMurdock, the MP for South Basildon and East Thurrock, surrendered the party whip last week in anticipation of revelations in the Sunday Times, which claimed there were questions over loans totalling tens of thousands of pounds.
On Tuesday, McMurdock said he had decided to remain as an independent MP rather than seek to return to Reform UK.
“I have now had a chance to take specialist legal advice from an expert in the relevant field,” he posted on X. “In light of that advice, which is privileged and which I choose to keep private at this time, I have decided to continue my parliamentary career as an independent MP where I can focus 100% on the interests of my constituents.”
McMurdock had originally said he had asked for the whip to be suspended as a “precautionary measure” and “for the protection of Reform UK”.
The Sunday Times reported that McMurdock took out £70,000 in loans in 2020, which it said were from the government’s bounce back scheme.
It said he borrowed £50,000 for one business, JAM Financial Ltd, which had no employees and negligible assets until the Covid pandemic. For a firm to have been eligible for the loan, it would have needed to report a turnover of at least £200,000. McMurdock is said to have resigned as a director of the company in 2021 and transferred his shares.
Another company McMurdock owned, Gym Live Health and Fitness Limited, is said to have borrowed £20,000. It would have required a turnover of £100,000 under the bounce back scheme. It too had no employees, according to the latest registered accounts available on Companies House, and had nominal assets until the Covid pandemic.
The companies were due to be struck off the register at Companies House, but on the same day in February 2023 the process of suspending both companies was halted after the regulator had an objection from a third party.
McMurdock said he had told the Sunday Times: “All my business dealings had always been conducted fully within the law and in compliance with all regulations, and that appropriately qualified professionals had reviewed all activity confirming the same.”
McMurdock’s resignation will make him the second MP out of the five elected for Reform in September to quit the party, after the Great Yarmouth MP, Rupert Lowe. Since Lowe quit, the party had returned to five MPs with Sarah Pochin elected in a byelection, but it has now returned to four.
Reform UK has been approached for comment.