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The Reform UK figurehead addressed the largest Reform UK public meeting so far in Scotland, but avoided engaging with local journalists following the event. 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 Farage.

A High-Profile Defection

The leader presented the former Conservative peer and wealthy businessman during a sold-out rally of about 700 supporters at a hotel conference centre in central Scotland. The businessman, who worked as a junior minister for Scotland under the last government and most recently served as the Scottish Tory party's chief financial officer, stated his plan to give up his peerage in order to stand for Reform UK in next May’s Holyrood elections.

Farage said he was “delighted” to greet Offord to the party. He called the peer’s defection as “a brave and historic act”.

Dodging the Press

The Reform leader addressed the rally after a turbulent week which saw him launch a fierce criticism of the broadcaster after they quizzed him about an investigation into claimed discriminatory and antisemitic behaviour as a youth. However, Farage dodged the expected press huddle post-rally.

When asked why Farage was not available to answer mounting allegations concerning his history, the new recruit responded: “That is a question for him to answer.”

Challenged about whether he believed an apology was necessary for the comments he is said to have made about Jewish students, Offord said: “I think that’s something he’ll need to consider with his own advisers.”

Defending the Leader

The peer maintained that the leader is “morally fit” to be the country's leader 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 are not native English speakers by asking the rally: “Who authorised the complete transformation of Glasgow's demographics?”

While Scotland's First Minister criticised Farage’s original remarks as “racist”, and the Labour leader 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”.

A Party on the Rise

The rally, filled with an energetic and enthused crowd of largely male, white and middle-aged supporters who bought tickets for the event, highlights Reform's increasing self-assurance before next May’s elections.

While 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, polling up to 22%.

Announcing that party membership north of the border had quadrupled over the last twelve months to a running total of 12,000, a senior party official stated his belief it could gain up to 20 MSPs in May, which would place Reform in “a very strong position” at Holyrood.

Fighting Talk

A Reform councillor, one of Reform’s 19 Scottish councillors, 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”.

Although the party has yet to produce a distinct policy platform for Scotland, speakers from the north-east pledged Reform 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 over the past 12 months, admitting to the audience that he was once told he “couldn't fill a small venue”.

Protests Nearby

As the event was taking place, a few miles west in Falkirk town centre, demonstrators with opposing views 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 serious local crime. Speaking previously, First Minister John Swinney cautioned that “what the far right do is to apportion the blame … to asylum seekers or migrants and I think that is the root of the poison”.

However, he differentiated extremist opinions and people with “legitimate points” about strain on public services or community safety.