The Reform UK figurehead spoke to the biggest the party's rally held in Scotland to date, but declined to speak with local journalists afterwards. Instead, newly defected peer the former Conservative donor took on the task of responding to queries on claims of discriminatory behaviour and antisemitism linked to the party leader.
A High-Profile Defection
Farage introduced the former Conservative peer and wealthy businessman during a sold-out rally of about 700 attendees in a hotel venue near Falkirk. 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 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”.
Avoiding Media Scrutiny
The Reform leader addressed the rally after a turbulent week which saw him launch a tirade against the BBC for questioning him regarding a report into alleged racist and remarks as a youth. However, the leader avoided the expected press huddle post-rally.
Questioned why his new party’s leader did not make himself available to answer mounting allegations concerning his history, Offord said: “You’ll need to ask him that question.”
Challenged about whether he believed an apology was necessary for the comments he is said to have made towards Jewish pupils, Offord said: “That is a matter for him to deliberate on with his team.”
Insisting on Fitness
Offord insisted that the leader is “morally fit” to be prime minister and denied he was employing dog-whistle politics. While addressing supporters, the leader had reiterated on his remarks about the number of Glasgow schoolchildren who speak English as a second language by posing the question to the crowd: “Who voted for the wholesale change of the population of Glasgow?”
While the first minister, John Swinney criticised Farage’s original remarks as “discriminatory”, and Keir Starmer called them “toxic and divisive”, Offord maintained that his new leader was “highlighting a factual issue that people are talking about on the doorstep”.
Growing Confidence
The rally, attended by an lively and passionate audience of predominantly older, white male backers who bought tickets for the event, showcases the party’s growing confidence ahead of the Scottish vote.
Although the Scottish National Party remains ahead, the party has made substantial progress in the past year, achieving a quarter 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 increased fourfold over the last twelve months to a running total of 12,000, a senior party official stated his belief it could win around twenty parliamentary seats in May, which would place Reform in “a powerful situation” in the Scottish Parliament.
Fighting Talk
A Reform councillor, a local representative for the party, elicited loud cheers as he referred to the leader as “Britain’s next prime minister”. He instructed the crowd to “prepare for a fight” as we “challenge the ruling class”, warning that “the next five months will be tough”.
Despite not yet publishing any Scotland-specific policies, representatives pledged Reform would “take on the green blob and the net-zero grifters”.
Farage himself expressed his pleasure at the party’s emergence as a force in Scottish politics over the past 12 months, confessing to supporters that he was once told he “couldn't fill a small venue”.
Protests Nearby
Meanwhile, a few miles west in the heart of Falkirk, anti-immigration and anti-racist protesters were gathering for what have become regular weekly confrontations outside a local hotel where asylum seekers are now housed.
The organisers of the demonstrations stated they were motivated by a serious local crime. Speaking previously, Scotland's leader cautioned that “what the far right do is to assign responsibility … to asylum seekers or migrants 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 “valid concerns” about pressure on local services or community safety.
