New details emerge about suspended Reform MPs Covid loan scandal

Nigel Farage of Reform UK and James McMurdock

Another politician linked to Reform UK has become embroiled in a financial scandal. The MP had already self-suspended, though, so that should at least save Reform some time if things don’t go in his favour:

EXCL by @GeorgeGreenwood

Suspended Reform MP was blocked from winding up two companies — as they failed to repay *still* unexplained taxpayer-backed Covid loans.

James McMurdock has lashed out at scrutiny since Sunday Times posed Qs, but never explained pandemic debts.

— Gabriel Pogrund (@Gabriel_Pogrund) July 28, 2026

Reform Covid loans

James McMurdock suspended himself in 2025 after questions emerged about the Covid loans. Now, the Times have revealed that the Department for Business and Trade blocked McMurdock from winding up the two companies linked to Covid loans. As they reported:

The “dissolution objections process” was introduced by the business department to reduce losses from misuse of bounceback loans by preventing borrowers from avoiding repayments by striking off their companies with outstanding debts.

Giving you an idea of why this was possible, a Covid counter fraud commissioner report from 2025 found:

around 70,000 businesses with outstanding Covid-19 loans placed in the dissolution objections process, many of whom would have committed fraud, possibly worth £0.9 billion, have since either repaid their loans or withdrawn their applications to dissolve

In this case, the Department for Business and Trade has confirmed that the issue was McMurdock not paying back his bounceback loans. In other words, if the department hadn’t blocked the winding up processes, McMurdock may have gotten away with not repaying the loan.

McMurdock responded to the Times with the following statement:

It is now a matter of public record that my businesses have been closed. I owe nothing. Not a penny. Not a bean. All former statements made by me relating to this matter remain true and correct. I would like to thank The Times and all other parties for giving me the opportunity to be vindicated… again.

This is far from the only financial scandal Reform is linked to anyway, with others including:

McMurdock

The Covid bounceback loans aren’t the only scandal that McMurdock is linked to either, with the Times reporting:

The MP, who narrowly won his seat in 2024, came to national prominence when it emerged he had been convicted of assaulting his ex-girlfriend in 2006.

He had not publicly disclosed the conviction before he was elected, and played down the attack as a “teenage indiscretion” when details emerged in the weeks after the election.

In the same article, the Times suggest that McMurdock becoming an MP shows a problem with Reform’s vetting. As we’ve suggested elsewhere, however, we’re not sure that Reform’s vetting process is ‘failing’; it actually just seems like the party is willing to ignore certain things.