🔗 Share this article

The Reform UK figurehead spoke to the biggest the party's public meeting so far in Scotland, but declined to speak with the press corps afterwards. Instead, recently switched peer Malcolm Offord took on the task of field questions on allegations of racism and antisemitism surrounding the party leader.

A High-Profile Defection

The leader presented the former Conservative peer and wealthy businessman during a packed event of about 700 supporters in a hotel venue in central Scotland. The businessman, who worked as a Scotland Office minister in the previous administration and was until recently the Scottish Tory party's chief financial officer, announced his intention to relinquish his seat in the Lords in order to become a candidate for Reform UK in next May’s Holyrood elections.

The leader stated he was “delighted” to welcome Offord to the party. He described the switch as “a courageous and significant move”.

Dodging the Press

Farage spoke to the crowd after a turbulent week which saw him launch a tirade against the BBC after they quizzed him regarding a report into claimed discriminatory and remarks as a youth. But, the leader avoided a planned media briefing after Saturday’s event.

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

Challenged about if he thought an apology was necessary for his alleged remarks towards Jewish pupils, Offord said: “That is a matter for him to deliberate on with his team.”

Defending the Leader

Offord insisted that Farage was “ethically suitable” to be the country's leader and rejected claims of coded political messaging. While addressing supporters, the leader had reiterated on previous comments about the number of Glasgow schoolchildren who are not native English speakers by asking the rally: “Who authorised the complete transformation of Glasgow's demographics?”

While the first minister, John Swinney criticised Farage’s original remarks as “discriminatory”, and Keir Starmer labeled them “harmful and polarising”, the defector argued that Farage was “drawing attention to a real concern” that people are talking about on the doorstep”.

Growing Confidence

The rally, filled with an energetic and enthused crowd of predominantly older, white male backers who each paid £6 to attend, showcases Reform's increasing self-assurance ahead of the Scottish vote.

While the Scottish National Party remains ahead, the party has gained significant ground in the past year, securing 26% of the vote in a recent parliamentary by-election. Following Scottish Labour's decline, Reform has regularly pushed it into third place lately, polling up to 22%.

Declaring that party membership north of the border had increased fourfold over the last twelve months to a running total of 12,000, a senior party official said he believed it could gain up to 20 MSPs in May, which would place Reform in “a very strong position” in the Scottish Parliament.

Campaign Rhetoric

A Reform councillor, 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 “challenge the ruling class”, warning that “the next five months will be tough”.

Despite not yet publishing any Scotland-specific policies, speakers from the north-east pledged Reform would “take on the green blob and the net-zero grifters”.

The leader personally expressed his pleasure at the party’s emergence as a force in Scottish politics over the past 12 months, admitting to the audience that in previous years he had been warned he “wouldn’t get 20 people in a room”.

Local Context

Meanwhile, not far away in Falkirk town centre, anti-immigration and anti-racist protesters were gathering for a now-regular weekly standoff outside a local hotel where asylum seekers are now housed.

The organisers of the demonstrations said it was galvanised by a criminal case involving an asylum seeker. Speaking previously, First Minister John Swinney cautioned that “what the far right do is to apportion the blame … to new arrivals and I think that is the root of the poison”.

However, he differentiated between those who hold far-right views and people with “valid concerns” about pressure on local services or neighbourhood security.