The UK’s Conservative Party has suspended a former election candidate after an undercover documentary showed him discussing the cost of hiring contract killers. The footage also shows him offering to broker the services of a far-right activist with alleged paramilitary links.
The man is Jack Ross, chief executive of Turning Point UK (TPUK), who stood as a Conservative candidate in 2023. A party spokesperson said his membership had been suspended with immediate effect pending an investigation, and that the party could not comment further while it was ongoing.
How the undercover investigation unfolded
The investigation, titled Contract Killers and the Far Right, began in 2021 when an undercover reporter joined TPUK, an independent offshoot of the US activist group Turning Point USA. TPUK has close ties to several senior British Conservative figures and to leaders of Reform UK.
Ross introduced the reporter to a man named Nesbitt, from Glasgow, Scotland. In the footage, Ross allegedly told the reporter that for “a certain amount”, Nesbitt and his contacts could arrange physical attacks.
Ross’s alleged remarks on violent attacks
Ross is heard describing the range of violence on offer, from assaults to stabbings and shootings. “They could kill someone,” he said, according to the documentary.
