The Reform UK figurehead spoke to the largest Reform UK rally so far in Scotland, but declined to speak with the press corps afterwards. 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.
Welcoming a New Recruit
The leader presented the former Conservative peer and millionaire donor during a packed event of about 700 supporters at a hotel conference centre in central Scotland. Offord, who served as a Scotland Office minister under the last government and most recently served as the Scottish Tory party's chief financial officer, announced his intention to give up his peerage in order to stand for the party in next May’s Holyrood elections.
Farage said he was “delighted” to greet Offord to the party. He described the switch as “a brave and historic act”.
Dodging the Press
The Reform leader addressed the rally after a turbulent week which saw him launch a tirade against the BBC after they quizzed him about an investigation into claimed discriminatory and remarks from his teenage years. However, Farage dodged a planned media briefing post-rally.
When asked why Farage was not available to address growing claims concerning his history, the new recruit responded: “You’ll need to ask him that question.”
Pressed on if he thought Farage should apologise for his alleged remarks about Jewish students, Offord said: “I think that’s something he’ll need to consider with his own advisers.”
Defending the Leader
Offord insisted that the leader is “morally fit” to be prime minister and rejected claims of dog-whistle politics. While addressing supporters, the leader had reiterated on his remarks about pupils in Glasgow who speak English as a second language by posing the question to the crowd: “Who authorised the complete transformation of Glasgow's demographics?”
Although Scotland's First Minister criticised the initial comments as “discriminatory”, and Keir Starmer called them “toxic and divisive”, Offord maintained that Farage was “highlighting a factual issue that “voters are discussing”.
A Party on the Rise
The event, attended by an lively and passionate audience of largely male, white and middle-aged supporters who each paid £6 to attend, showcases the party’s growing confidence ahead of the Scottish vote.
While the SNP continues to lead in the polls, Reform UK has gained significant ground in the past year, securing 26% of the vote in its first Holyrood byelection test. After the collapse in support for Scottish Labour, Reform has regularly pushed it into third place in recent months, with support reaching over a fifth.
Declaring that party membership north of the border had quadrupled in the past year to a running total of 12,000, a senior party official said he believed it could gain up to 20 MSPs in May, putting the party in “a powerful situation” at Holyrood.
Fighting Talk
Thomas Kerr, a local representative for the party, prompted a roar of approval as he referred to the leader as “Britain’s next prime minister”. He told supporters to “man the barricades as we “challenge the ruling class”, cautioning that “the coming campaign will be difficult”.
Although the party has yet to produce any Scotland-specific policies, speakers from the north-east vowed the party would “take on the green blob and the net-zero grifters”.
Farage himself underlined his delight at Reform's rise as a significant player in Scottish politics in the last year, confessing to supporters that he was once told he “couldn't fill a small venue”.
Local Context
Meanwhile, not far away in the heart of Falkirk, demonstrators with opposing views were gathering for what have become regular weekly confrontations outside a local hotel where asylum seekers are now housed.
A group coordinating protests said it was galvanised by a serious local crime. Speaking previously, Scotland's leader warned that the tactic of the far-right is to assign responsibility … to asylum seekers or migrants and I think that is the root of the poison”.
However, he differentiated between those who hold far-right views and people with “legitimate points” about pressure on local services or neighbourhood security.
