Things we have received no response from Sefton Reform about this week

Money for Nothing, luxury wigs and musical tastes, mostly

The Mersey Monitor planned a political mini series in the run up to polling day in Sefton and Knowsley this year, with aims to take a closer look at some of the wards, candidates and issues shaping the election campaigns. However, we ran into a little glitch with our first piece.

The first of the Monitor’s special election spotlight falls on a low profile space within the Sefton election landscape, a look at Reform‘s Stephen Gavin Mulcahy in Great Crosby, a candidate with a somewhat quieter social media presence and campaign than some of his colleagues elsewhere in the borough. 

While Mr Mulcahy has kept a relatively low profile on social media, some of his fellow candidates in wider Sefton have found themselves embroiled in controversies over extreme comments made in past social media posts. According to reports in other local media, it has been quite challenging to get a response from Reform locally about that. If so, it’s something about which the Monitor has a lot of sympathy, because we’ve found ourselves in a similar boat.

Things we have received no response from Sefton Reform about this week

by Lisa Rand

With ‘all out’ elections in Sefton on May 7, when all 66 of the council’s seats will be up for grabs, Reform, in common with many parties operating in Sefton, has tabled candidates throughout the borough. Not all though appear to be receiving the same level of visible attention by Reform.  

While candidates in key Sefton target areas are seeing a relatively high profile Reform presence in the lead up to the election, others such as Stephen Mulcahy and his prospective ward colleagues in Great Crosby have been far less widely promoted. 

Great Crosby ward was recently created as part of electoral boundary changes across Sefton, and much of it used to be part of Victoria ward, which has had a few clear tendencies when electing councillors: all Lib Dem from 1987 until shifting decisively to Labour from 2011.

Other parties in the area have not typically tended to get as much of a look in and this may well explain a general sense of low profile for Reform in this ward. But what of its candidates? 

At the time of writing, there have been no dedicated Reform profiles introducing Mr Mulcahy or his two fellow Reform candidates to voters on the party’s local social media channels, and some residents have told the Monitor of generic leaflets featuring Farage’s face and no specific reference to local candidates dropping through their letterboxes, reflecting a much more low-key presence than in other parts of the borough. 

Apart from an over a decade old Liverpool Echo article describing Stephen Mulcahy as a “superhero Crosby dad“ after winning a ‘duck race‘ at the Albert Dock, and another about his son’s charity football card collection, as well as a LinkedIn profile, relatively little biographical information about Mr Mulcahy appears to be public. 

His name does crop up though in the Companies House register, where the Monitor has identified Mr Mulcahy’s name listed in connection with over 20 past and present businesses.

These include directorships of companies with distinctive names such as The Luxury Wig Company, which was formed in 2012. Mr Mulcahy was listed as co-director until the company was dissolved 19 months later without filing any accounts.

Another company, Money for Nothing Ltd, was formed in 2013 with Mr Mulcahy as sole shareholder. The business lasted less than seven months before being dissolved without filing any accounts.

Both companies do not appear to have maintained an online presence, meaning no clear public information is available about the nature of their activities. 

His company history also includes a past directorship at Oldan Services Ltd, which he formed in 2013 as sole shareholder.  

Companies House records show Mr Mulcahy resigned from the company in 2016. The business later underwent changes in ownership and direction under other parties and is now listed as The Elliot Group International Limited, which is currently in the midst of insolvency proceedings.  

There is no indication from the public record that Mr Mulcahy was involved in the company during that later period.  

Separate records show a past directorship at Payadviser Ltd, where Mr Mulcahy was listed alongside local developer Kenneth Guy. The company was dissolved just over two years later.  

There is no indication from the public record that this entity was connected to other development projects associated with Mr Guy, and Mr Mulcahy’s involvement appears to have been limited to this separate business.  

None of this is unusual, and indeed many Merseyside entrepreneurs do also appear on the Companies House register in connection with multiple businesses over time.

Some of the other past companies associated with Mr Mulcahy, such as Enterprising Solutions Ltd, Paradiso Real Estates Ltd, Genix Uk Ltd and Stiiizy Properties Ltd, appear to have been dissolved within a relatively short period of being formed.

We contacted Mr Mulcahy via Sefton Reform to ask whether this reflects a particular business approach or the circumstances behind those closures, but have not received a response.

None of this is unusual, and indeed many businesspeople also have companies that shut down within a relatively short space of time, part of completely normal and regular business activity that occurs not just in Merseyside but up and down the country.  

It does, however, provide one of the few publicly available insights into the background of a candidate who has otherwise kept a low campaign profile.  

Mr Mulcahy is currently listed as a director of three companies: Total Eco Solutions Ltd, SGM Consultancy UK Ltd and Just Bungalows Ltd.  

We asked Mr Mulcahy via Sefton Reform a series of questions about his past and current businesses and how his business background informs his candidacy.

We also asked, more lightly, about some of his hobbies and pastimes, including musical tastes, in a bid to understand whether Money for Nothing Ltd was inspired by the title of a song by Dire Straits.

The Monitor has not received a response.

*Candidates standing in Great Crosby ward are Carla Burns, James David O’Keeffe and Ben Sambrook (Green Party); Les Byrom, Jen Corcoran and Janet Grace (Labour Party); Sean Doherty, Hannah Jane Gee and Carol Ann Hill (Liberal Democrats); Oliver John Doyle (Conservative Party); and Victor Hudson Foulds, Stephen Gavin Mulcahy and Steve Ray (Reform UK).