🔗 Share this article

The Reform UK figurehead spoke to the largest Reform UK rally so far in Scotland, however avoided engaging with the press corps following the event. In his place, recently switched peer Malcolm Offord was left to responding to queries on allegations of racism and antisemitism surrounding the party leader.

A High-Profile Defection

The leader presented the ex-Tory lord and wealthy businessman at a sold-out rally of about 700 attendees in a hotel venue in central Scotland. The businessman, who worked 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 the upcoming Scottish parliament vote.

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

Avoiding Media Scrutiny

The Reform leader addressed the rally after a turbulent week which included him delivering a fierce criticism of the broadcaster for questioning him regarding a report into alleged racist and antisemitic behaviour from his teenage years. But, Farage dodged a planned media briefing post-rally.

Questioned why Farage did not make himself available to answer mounting allegations concerning his history, the new recruit responded: “You’ll need to ask him that question.”

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

Insisting on Fitness

Offord insisted that the leader is “ethically suitable” to be the country's leader and rejected claims of dog-whistle politics. While addressing supporters, the leader had reiterated on previous comments about pupils in Glasgow who speak English as a second language by asking the rally: “Who voted for the wholesale change of the population of Glasgow?”

Although the first minister, John Swinney criticised Farage’s original remarks as “discriminatory”, and Keir Starmer labeled them “harmful and polarising”, Offord maintained that his new leader 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, highlights Reform's increasing self-assurance ahead of the Scottish vote.

Although the Scottish National Party remains ahead, Reform UK has made substantial progress recently, securing 26% of the vote in its first Holyrood byelection test. After the collapse in support for Scottish Labour, the party has often relegated it to third in recent months, with support reaching over a fifth.

Announcing that Reform UK membership in Scotland had increased fourfold over the last twelve months to a running total of 12,000, a senior party official said he believed it could win around twenty parliamentary seats in May, putting the party in “a very strong position” at Holyrood.

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 “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, speakers from the north-east pledged Reform would “take on the green blob and the net-zero grifters”.

The leader personally underlined his delight at Reform's rise as a significant player 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

As the event was taking place, a few miles west in Falkirk town centre, anti-immigration and anti-racist protesters assembled for a now-regular weekly standoff near a hotel where asylum seekers are now housed.

A group coordinating protests said it was galvanised by a criminal case involving an asylum seeker. Speaking previously, Scotland's leader cautioned that “what the far right do is to assign responsibility … 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 community safety.