Nigel Farage spoke to the largest the party's rally so far in Scotland, but avoided engaging with the press corps afterwards. In his place, newly defected peer the former Conservative donor was left to responding to queries on allegations of racism and antisemitism surrounding Farage.
A High-Profile Defection
The leader presented the former Conservative peer and wealthy businessman during a sold-out rally of roughly seven hundred supporters at a hotel conference centre in central Scotland. 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 give up his peerage in order to stand for Reform UK in the upcoming Scottish parliament vote.
The leader stated he was “delighted” to welcome Offord to the party. He called the peer’s defection as “a brave and historic act”.
Dodging the Press
Farage addressed the rally following a difficult period which included him delivering a tirade against the BBC after they quizzed 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 his new party’s leader was not available to answer mounting allegations about his past behaviour, the new recruit responded: “That is a question for him to answer.”
Pressed on whether he believed Farage should apologise for his alleged remarks about Jewish students, Offord said: “That is a matter for him to deliberate on with his team.”
Defending the Leader
Offord insisted that the leader is “morally fit” to be prime minister and denied he was employing dog-whistle politics. During his speech, Farage had doubled down 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?”
While the first minister, John Swinney criticised the initial comments as “racist”, and Keir Starmer labeled them “toxic and divisive”, the defector argued that his new leader was “drawing attention to a real concern” that “voters are discussing”.
Growing Confidence
The rally, filled with an energetic and enthused crowd of largely male, white and middle-aged supporters who each paid £6 to attend, highlights the party’s growing confidence before next May’s elections.
While the Scottish National Party remains ahead, Reform UK has gained significant ground in the past year, securing 26% of the vote in a recent parliamentary by-election. Following Scottish Labour's decline, the party has often relegated it to third in recent months, polling up to 22%.
Announcing that Reform UK membership in Scotland had quadrupled over the last twelve months to 12,000 members, a senior party official said he believed it could gain up to 20 MSPs in May, putting the party in “a powerful situation” in the Scottish Parliament.
Fighting Talk
Thomas Kerr, a local representative for the party, elicited loud cheers as he described Farage as “Britain’s next prime minister”. He told supporters to “man the barricades as we take on the political establishment”, cautioning that “the coming campaign will be difficult”.
Despite not yet publishing a distinct policy platform for Scotland, speakers from the north-east vowed the party would “confront climate activists and those profiting from green policies”.
Farage himself underlined his delight at the party’s emergence as a force in the political scene in Scotland in the last year, admitting to the audience that he was once told he “wouldn’t get 20 people in a room”.
Protests Nearby
As the event was taking place, a few miles west in Falkirk town centre, 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.
A group coordinating protests stated they were motivated by a criminal case involving an asylum seeker. Speaking previously, First Minister John Swinney 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 strain on public services or neighbourhood security.
