Reform MP James McMurdock, who was convicted of assaulting his ex-girlfriend 18 years ago, will not face suspension and would still pass the party’s new vetting process, according to deputy leader Richard Tice.
Defending McMurdock’s past actions, Tice described the incident as a "mistake" and praised the MP for "doing brilliantly." He emphasized that McMurdock, who secured the Essex seat of South Basildon and East Thurrock by a narrow margin of 98 votes, had "made errors, learned from them, and grown as a person."
This statement follows a damning report from Whitehall’s spending watchdog, which highlighted that violence against women and girls in the UK is worsening despite years of government efforts to address the issue.
Before the election, McMurdock did not publicly disclose his assault conviction. Initially, he claimed he had merely "pushed" his partner when the incident resurfaced earlier this year. However, court records obtained by *The Times* revealed that in 2006, as a teenager, he was sentenced to 21 days in a young offender institution for kicking the victim “around four times.”
Speaking after a party rally in north-west Essex, Tice said: “We’re a Christian nation and part of Christianity is about faith, it’s about trust but it’s also about forgiveness.
“We’re all sinners, we all make mistakes, and James by his own admission made a mistake, a bad mistake, but actually he did his time.
“So the system works. He was sentenced, he did his time, paid the price and now he’s shown a great example of someone who had a bad start with a bad mistake but look how well he’s done.
“And what that shows actually is, we can forgive and we learn from things, but people can succeed. And I think that’s really important.”
When asked whether McMurdock could ever face suspension for his conviction, Tice said: “The opposite. He’s doing brilliantly and he’s a shining example of someone who’s worked hard, got a lovely family.
“His wife’s pregnant literally as we speak, with a new baby on its way, and to be an MP is a great privilege, and we’re very proud of him and he’s doing a great job.
“[He’s] really really focused on his constituents and it’s another success story.
“Someone who made a mistake, got things wrong, learned from it and has grown and succeeded, taken a risk coming into politics and good on him. He’s put his head above the parapet and we’re very proud of him.”
Shortly after he was elected, the mother of McMurdock’s former girlfriend told the Daily Mail that the new MP was “a monster” who had “left marks on her body”, saying: “It took two security guards to pull him off her.”
In response to her comments, McMurdock told the paper: “A generous person might call it a teenage indiscretion, but I do not expect everyone to be so kind. Nearly 20 years ago, at 19 years of age, at the end of a night out together, we argued and I pushed her.
“She fell over and she was hurt. Despite being 38 now and having lived a whole life again, I still feel deeply ashamed of that moment and apologetic. Despite us both being very drunk, I handed myself into the police immediately and admitted my fault.”
Speaking at the rally on Friday, the Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, conceded the vetting of candidates had been “probably quite near a catastrophe” in past elections, after several were dropped for making sexist remarks and using racial slurs.
But Tice said he was confident McMurdock would still pass Reform’s new vetting process, a system he has described as “getting better and better”.
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