Former Reform MP worked for bank while 'claiming Covid loans', reports say

A FORMER Reform UK MP received a salary from an international bank during the pandemic while allegedly receiving thousands of pounds in Covid loans.

James McMurdock suspended himself from the Nigel Farage-led party when reports emerged last week in The Sunday Times that he had borrowed £70,000 through two firms in 2020. 

One business was previously dormant, while the other had negligible assets, the newspaper reports. 

The MP for South Basildon and East Thurrock said he had quit the party after taking “specialist advice” that he said was “privileged and which I choose to keep private at this time”.

McMurdock received £50,000 through JAM Financial Ltd, and has not responded to claims this was a Bounce Back loan, where eligible businesses had to be “adversely impacted by the coronavirus” and trading on March 1 2020. 

The Times now reports that JAM Financial was a personal service company that the MP used to receive earnings from Standard Chartered. McMurdock worked at the bank until he became an MP last year, setting up the firm just days before starting his role as a “senior associate” in November 2016. 

By being paid through the company over three years, McMurdock assumed the status of a contractor, despite working there full time. 

The MP was placed on the bank’s payroll in 2020 ahead of tax reforms due to come in in spring, The Times has now reported. 

(Image: Joe Giddens) The move was a part of a bid to ensure contractors paid the correct tax and national insurance contributions, and were not acting as “disguised employees”. 

McMurdock was then paid directly, and JAM Financial received less money as a result, which had nothing to do with the coronavirus pandemic. 

Company accounts for JAM Financial show its debts never exceeded a few thousand pounds before the pandemic. But in the year to October 2020, it reported debts of £50,000, up from zero the year before. 

The amount is the same as the maximum available via the Bounce Back Loan Scheme.

McMurdock would have been required to report a turnover of at least £20,000. 

Reform have urged him to quit his role as an MP to allow a by-election to be held in his seat.

It emerged after the election that he had been jailed after repeatedly kicking his ex-girlfriend outside of a Chelmsford nightclub. 

Farage refused to apologise for a lack of background checks on Reform candidates as it predated his leadership.

Reform is now down to four MPs.