Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
Reform UK MP James McMurdock was jailed 18 years ago for repeatedly kicking his girlfriend, it has been revealed today by The Times newspaper.
The former investment banker was elected this year as MP for South Basildon & East Thurrock, after beating the Conservative candidate Stephen Metcalfe by just 98 votes.
Questioned by the media about the conviction, he made out that he had simply “pushed” his former girlfriend and downplayed the attack as a “teenage indiscretion”.
But full details of the incident have come to light after The Times applied to the courts for information, finding that he assaulted his then-partner in 2006 while drunk outside a nightclub and spent 21 days in a young offenders’ institution after admitting to the attack.
McMurdock will now face accusations of misleading the public ahead of the General Election, with the narrow nature of his victory likely to be in focus.
Related: Question Time audience less sympathetic to farmer’s plight than the media is letting on
