A former Reform UK MP is being investigated over claims that he used social media to “facilitate racial abuse”.
James McMurdock, who suspended himself from the party over separate allegations about loans during the pandemic, is facing a probe by parliament’s standards commissioner.
It comes after he allegedly started a so-called “N-tower” on social media, a way of spelling out the n-word without being subject to a platform’s content-moderation practices.
The complaint against the MP said: “The slur was the n-word, with the letters appearing in subsequent posts under Mr McMurdock’s first on X [formerly Twitter] over roughly 30 minutes.”
Mr McMurdock later deleted his original post containing the letter N. Speaking to Times Radio, he said he would cooperate with the investigation, which follows a complaint by a fellow MP. “I’ll respond and they’ll clear it,” he added.
The post at the centre of the allegation appeared under a link to an article last month about Sky News journalist Mhari Aurora’s question to Nigel Farage at a Reform press conference.
Mr McMurdock has denied the allegation, and when it was first raised, he said he had “unknowingly posted an entirely random, and wholly insignificant, one-letter comment” while on holiday.
He denied having any connection to the accounts that subsequently spelled out the rest of the n-word beneath the post.
Speaking to Times Radio, Tory MP Ben Obese-Jecty, who made the original complaint, said: “The tweet that he made was an absolute disgrace, whether accidental or otherwise, and I think it’s appalling that a member of parliament should seek to denigrate a Westminster journalist simply for the colour of her skin. In my opinion he is not fit to be a member of parliament.”
The standards commissioner will examine whether Mr McMurdock caused “significant damage” to the reputation of the Commons.
Mr McMurdock quit Reform in July after facing questions related to Covid loans. The MP for South Basildon and East Thurrock “removed the party whip from himself” pending the outcome of an investigation relating to allegations around “business propriety during the pandemic”.
It came after an investigation by The Sunday Times alleged that two businesses connected to Mr McMurdock, one of which had no employees, had taken out Covid-19 loans totalling £70,000 during the pandemic.
He said in August that the standards commissioner had cleared him of any wrongdoing and that there was “no other investigation” that required his support on the matter.
Mr McMurdock has been contacted for comment.
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