A Reform UK MP has resigned the party whip pending an investigation into allegations of business impropriety before he was elected, the party’s chief whip has said.
James McMurdock will sit as an independent while a probe takes place over the allegations, which he said are likely to emerge in the press this weekend.
Reform’s chief whip Lee Anderson said: “At Reform UK we take these matters very seriously and James has agreed to cooperate in full with any investigation.”
It leaves Nigel Farage’s insurgent right-wing party again with just four MPs, with Reform previously suspended Rupert Lowe for criticising the arch-Brexiteer’s leadership.
The suspension comes just one year after Mr McMurdock entered parliament almost by accident, having agreed to stand in the general election as a so-called paper candidate.
He won his South Basildon and East Thurrock seat by 98 votes, having given up a high-paying job at a financial firm in the City of London to become an MP. The 38-year-old, who has previously worked for Barclays Capital, Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers, specialising in energy, infrastructure, and manufacturing, ran his campaign with only the help of his parents.
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