Expel Reform MP over girlfriend assault - council leader

A council leader has called on Nigel Farage to expel one of his Reform UK MPs over their conviction for assaulting a former girlfriend.

James McMurdock admitted he pushed the woman in 2006, having been asked about the incident after winning the Essex seat of South Basildon and East Thurrock in July.

However, last week The Times reported further details from the court records, which reportedly said he kicked the victim about four times.

Gavin Callaghan, the Labour leader at Basildon Council, said Farage should have withdrawn the whip from McMurdock following the latest revelation.

"Nigel Farage is weak," said Callaghan.

"The fact he is not willing to address it like a real parliamentary leader, speaks volumes about him."

McMurdock won the seat at the general election by 98 votes. The Labour candidate came second, and the incumbent Conservative Stephen Metcalfe finished third.

After the election result, the Daily Mail said it spoke to the victim's mother, and McMurdock released a statement in response.

He said he was 19 years old at the time, that both of them were "very drunk" and that he handed himself into police "immediately".

"I faced the consequences then and paid for my action in full," he said.

"It was the realisation of what happened that night and the shame I felt over it that led me to turn my life around."

Farage, the MP for Clacton and party leader, has stood by his colleague and on Thursday he said McMurdock did something "really awful a long time ago".

"It's not something he's proud of in any way at all, but you know, what's done is done, we have the rehabilitation of offenders' act - we have Christian forgiveness."

Pressed further, he suggested McMurdock - who went on to work in the City of London and was a married father-of-four - was a "story of genuine rehabilitation".

Prospective candidates for Parliament can stand for election despite having a criminal record, unless they have served a prison term or been detained for 12 months or more.