Former Reform MP to shut down firm after allegations dismissed
A former Reform UK MP is shutting down one of the companies he was alleged to have not declared a financial interest in.
James McMurdock, who now sits as the independent MP for South Basildon and East Thurrock in Essex, has applied to Companies House to have Gym Live Health & Fitness Limited struck off.
The move comes after McMurdock was cleared by the parliamentary standards commissioner who did not uphold the complaint last month.
However, standards commissioner Daniel Greenberg said his unpaid directorship should now be registered in his parliamentary interests.
McMurdock hit the headlines at the start of July when accusations emerged in the Sunday Times over government loans he was alleged to have taken out during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The MP gave up the Reform UK whip after the report was published which claimed he took out £70,000 in loans in 2020, which it said were from the government’s Bounce Back scheme.
It said he borrowed £50,000 for JAM Financial Ltd which had no employees and negligible assets until the pandemic.
McMurdock resigned as a director in 2021 and transferred his shares to Yvonne Allen.
McMurdock to continue as independent MP
Gym Live Health and Fitness Limited was said to have borrowed £20,000.
However, the investigation report by standards commissioner Daniel Greenberg, which was published last month, said McMurdock had been advised that “that this specific interest did not need to be registered”.
McMurdock entered the House of Commons after last July’s general election after he beat the second-placed Labour candidate by 98 votes.
In a statement on social media in July, McMurdock said: “I will continue, undeterred, as I have since the day of my election, to dedicate my energies to being the best parliamentary representative I can be for my constituents.”
McMurdock insisted when the Sunday Times news story broke that “all my business dealings had always been conducted fully within the law and in compliance with all regulations and that appropriately qualified professionals had reviewed all activity confirming the same”.