He had not publicly disclosed the conviction before he was elected as an MP
It’s been revealed that a Reform UK MP James McMurdock was jailed 18 years ago for repeatedly kicking his then girlfriend.
The shocking revelations were made by the Times newspaper.
McMurdock, who was previously an investment banker, joined Reform this year and agreed to be a paper candidate for the party in South Basildon and East Thurrock, a seat he ended up winning after defeating Tory candidate Stephen Metcalfe by just 98 votes.
He had not publicly disclosed the conviction before he was elected as an MP.
When his previous conviction initially came to light, McMurdock tried to downplay it, claiming that he had “pushed” his former girlfriend and that the attack as a “teenage indiscretion”.
However, further investigations by the Times, which included the paper seeking further information from the courts, revealed that ‘the reason for his custodial sentence was “kicking to victim on around four times’.
The paper reports: “His previous conviction came to light when the victim’s mother accused him of having “left marks on her body” and said that “it took two security guards to pull him off her”.
“At the time the MP contradicted the mother’s account. In a statement, he said that “while I absolutely deny the horrific details in this tale, there is one truth in it that I cannot, nor will not deny or hide from”.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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