Suspended Former Tory Candidate Worked as Consultant in Kemi Badenoch's Office

A former Conservative election candidate who was suspended after being filmed discussing the cost of hiring contract killers worked as a consultant in Kemi Badenoch's office as recently as last year, it has emerged.

Jack Ross is under investigation by the Conservatives after he was filmed apparently asking an undercover reporter "What do you want done?" and appearing to offer to broker the services of an alleged far-right paramilitary group.

Police in Scotland have said they will review the Al Jazeera documentary in which Ross made a series of comments about what a contract killer could be employed to do, and spoke about using far-right groups to create disruption on the streets.

It has now come to light that Ross was working in 2025 in the office of the leader of the opposition, which can draw on taxpayer funds to pay staff. By then he was chief executive of Turning Point UK, a group that was already involving itself in anti-migrant street protests and listed Nick Tenconi, the leader of Ukip, as its chief operating officer.

Sources close to Badenoch said Ross was contracted as a junior external social media consultant. However, a Conservative staffer familiar with his role at the time said: "Jack would come and go in the office and a few people raised their eyebrows, but it was brushed under the carpet because he got the party clicks on socials." The staffer added: "He would have been in the same room as Kemi and she would have been aware of him. Some MPs were uncomfortable about it, but senior figures were clear that social media clicks were more important."

According to Al Jazeera, Ross introduced an undercover reporter to a violent criminal from Glasgow with links to the paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force, who offered to have people killed for money. The reporter had presented Ross with a fictitious family problem in which a deceased uncle's business was at risk of being taken over by a gang. Ross replied: "Yeah, you have to deliver on that as well. You've got to explain to me what's needed .. I can then go and broker from there. But I've got to say, even to myself .. if there's lashback I've got to keep my name out of it."

On another occasion, Ross appeared to list the violent options that could be bought, telling the journalist: "They can just kick the fuck out of someone. That's a certain amount. They can start cutting people's faces up, that's another amount. And they can stab someone. They can shoot someone. They can kill someone."

Ross, who stood unsuccessfully as a Conservative local election candidate, became chief executive of Turning Point UK in 2021. The group is the British offshoot of the US campaign organisation founded by the late rightwing American activist Charlie Kirk, and it was initially endorsed by senior Tory figures including Priti Patel and Jacob Rees-Mogg. Ross became a regular presence on the British rightwing scene, appearing on GB News and joining the conservative thinktank the Bow Group, while TPUK reinvented itself as a street-protest group after Tenconi joined as chief operating officer.

Footage released by TPUK last year showed Ross and others from the group meeting Badenoch after Kirk's death. TPUK has not responded to the allegations, but Tenconi staged a stunt outside King's College London on Thursday imitating Kirk's campus events, where a branded gazebo was surrounded by students and protesters chanting in opposition. Al Jazeera also filmed Tenconi with Ross in 2022 discussing the formation of a "new right" that would engage far-right activists capable of causing street disruption and win over sympathetic MPs.

A Conservative spokesperson said: "Mr Ross's membership of the Conservative party has been suspended with immediate effect pending an investigation. We cannot comment further while the investigation is ongoing." Ross and Tenconi have been approached for comment.