Farage ally resigns from reform UK over business probe

Angela Cullen, Bloomberg News on Jul 5, 2025

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A Reform U.K. lawmaker has temporarily stepped back following a report of alleged business impropriety by companies he owned during the pandemic, marking a setback for the right-wing insurgent party led by Nigel Farage.

James McMurdock “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,” chief whip Lee Anderson said on Saturday. The allegations pertain to a time before he became a member of parliament, he said in a statement on the social media platform X.

McMurdock suspended himself from Reform UK after the Sunday Times approached him with claims he borrowed tens of thousands of pounds in 2020 through the government’s pandemic loans scheme, the newspaper reported. McMurdock borrowed the money through two companies he owned, neither of which submitted accounts or annual corporate filings in compliance with the Companies Act, the newspaper said.

The MP told the Sunday Times that the situation would require “a technical expert” to understand and warned the publication to “be very, very careful” in its reporting. He declined to explain why the loans were taken, the newspaper said.

“We take these matters very seriously and James has agreed to cooperate in full with any investigation,” Anderson said in his statement on X.

McMurdock will sit as an independent for the duration of the inquiry, reducing Reform UK’s presence in the House of Commons to four members from five. Despite its low representation, the party has emerged as a disruptive political force in Britain just a year after Prime Minister Keir Starmer swept to power in a landslide victory for the Labour party.

Reform UK could have taken more than 270 of the 650 seats in Parliament, if a general election was held at the end of June, a poll by YouGov suggested last month. The party also made significant gains in recent local elections, signaling growing momentum.