Reform UK is a party that’s vying for attention and is not ashamed of how it gets it.

With political support from Elon Musk this week amplifying Reform UK talking points on his platform X, the party has been able to make a splash in the new year ahead of the government.

Already this month the party has had two conferences in two days, and with only a handful of MPs there is opportunity for all of them to speak. With one notable exception – James McMurdock MP.

Despite being the MP for South Basildon and East Thurrock, he isn’t on the schedule for the East of England conference, with Sky News initially told he wasn’t planning on attending.

Controversy has surrounded the politician since it was unveiled that he was jailed nearly two decades ago for repeatedly kicking his then girlfriend in 2006 while drunk outside a nightclub – something not made public when he was standing to be an MP.

When it emerged last July that he had been jailed for attacking someone, he downplayed the incident as a “teenage indiscretion”.

When spotted strolling around the conference on Saturday, Sky News asked Mr McMurdock whether he regretted that term.

The MP would not apologise for the phrase and said he hadn’t lied or ever changed his story.

“I would like to do my best to do as little harm to everyone else and at the same time accept that I was a bad person for a moment back then,” he said.

“I’m doing my best to manage the fact that something really regrettable did happen.”

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The MP also wouldn’t say whether the party knew about his conviction prior to becoming a candidate, but leader Nigel Farage has previously said he “wasn’t vetted”.

Mr McMurdock still has not been suspended for the conflicting accounts of what happened and the party hasn’t commented on whether he would pass their new vetting system which they say is now in place for new council candidates.

One Labour MP has urged parliament and the government to make mandatory Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks for any prospective parliamentary candidates in the future.

While speaking to Sky News, Mr McMurdock said he would support that motion, though no Reform MP voted for it in an early day motion when it was laid in parliament.