🔗 Share this article

The Reform UK figurehead addressed the biggest Reform UK public meeting held in Scotland to date, however avoided engaging with local journalists following the event. In his place, newly defected member of the House of Lords the former Conservative donor took on the task of field questions on claims of discriminatory behaviour and antisemitism surrounding Farage.

A High-Profile Defection

Farage introduced the former Conservative peer and wealthy businessman at a sold-out rally of roughly seven hundred attendees at a hotel conference centre in central Scotland. The businessman, who worked as a Scotland Office minister under the last government and was until recently the Scottish Tory party's chief financial officer, stated his plan to relinquish his seat in the Lords in order to become a candidate for Reform UK in the upcoming Scottish parliament vote.

The leader stated he was “extremely pleased” to welcome Offord to the party. He described the switch as “a brave and historic act”.

Avoiding Media Scrutiny

Farage spoke to the crowd following a difficult period which included him delivering a fierce criticism of the broadcaster after they quizzed him regarding a report into alleged racist and remarks as a youth. But, Farage dodged a planned media briefing after Saturday’s event.

Questioned why Farage was not available to answer mounting allegations about his past behaviour, Offord said: “You’ll need to ask him that question.”

Challenged about whether he believed Farage should apologise for his alleged remarks about Jewish students, Offord said: “That is a matter for him to deliberate on with his team.”

Defending the Leader

The peer maintained that the leader is “morally fit” to be the country's leader and denied he was employing coded political messaging. During his speech, Farage had doubled down on his remarks about pupils in Glasgow who are not native English speakers by posing the question to the crowd: “Who voted for the wholesale change of the population of Glasgow?”

Although the first minister, John Swinney criticised the initial comments as “racist”, and the Labour leader labeled them “harmful and polarising”, Offord maintained that his new leader was “highlighting a factual issue that “voters are discussing”.

Growing Confidence

The rally, filled with an lively and passionate audience of largely male, white and middle-aged supporters who each paid £6 to attend, highlights Reform's increasing self-assurance before next May’s elections.

Although the SNP continues to lead in the polls, Reform UK has made substantial progress in the past year, securing 26% of the vote in a recent parliamentary by-election. Following Scottish Labour's decline, the party has often relegated it to third in recent months, with support reaching over a fifth.

Declaring that party membership north of the border had quadrupled in the past year to 12,000 members, the party chair, David Bull stated his belief it could win around twenty parliamentary seats in May, putting the party in “a powerful situation” at Holyrood.

Campaign Rhetoric

Thomas Kerr, a local representative for the party, prompted a roar of approval as he described Farage as “the future PM of the UK”. He instructed the crowd to “man the barricades as we take on the political establishment”, warning that “the coming campaign will be difficult”.

Despite not yet publishing any Scotland-specific policies, representatives pledged Reform would “confront climate activists and those profiting from green policies”.

The leader personally expressed his pleasure at the party’s emergence as a force in the political scene in Scotland over the past 12 months, confessing to supporters that he was once told he “wouldn’t get 20 people in a room”.

Protests Nearby

Meanwhile, a few miles west in Falkirk town centre, demonstrators with opposing views were gathering for a now-regular weekly standoff near a hotel used to accommodate asylum seekers.

A group coordinating protests said it was galvanised by a serious local crime. In an interview, First Minister John Swinney cautioned that the tactic of the far-right is to apportion the blame … to new arrivals and I think that is the source of a harmful narrative”.

He also made a clear distinction between those who hold far-right views and people with “legitimate points” about pressure on local services or neighbourhood security.