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The Reform UK figurehead spoke to the biggest the party's rally held in Scotland to date, however declined to speak with local journalists afterwards. In his place, recently switched peer the former Conservative donor took on the task of responding to queries on allegations of racism and anti-Jewish sentiment surrounding the party leader.

A High-Profile Defection

The leader presented the ex-Tory lord and millionaire donor at a packed event of about 700 supporters in a hotel venue near Falkirk. Offord, who served as a junior minister for Scotland under the last government and most recently served as treasurer of the Scottish Conservatives, announced his intention to give up his peerage in order to stand for the party in the upcoming Scottish parliament vote.

Farage said he was “delighted” to greet the new member. He described the switch as “a brave and historic act”.

Dodging the Press

The Reform leader spoke to the crowd after a turbulent week which saw him launch a tirade against the BBC for questioning him about an investigation into claimed discriminatory and remarks as a youth. However, Farage dodged a planned media briefing post-rally.

When asked why his new party’s leader did not make himself available to answer mounting allegations about his past behaviour, the new recruit responded: “That is a question for him to answer.”

Pressed on 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.”

Insisting on Fitness

Offord insisted that Farage was “morally fit” to be prime minister and denied he was employing dog-whistle politics. While addressing supporters, Farage had doubled down on previous comments about pupils in Glasgow who speak English as a second language by asking the rally: “Who authorised the complete transformation of Glasgow's demographics?”

Although the first minister, John Swinney criticised the initial comments 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”.

A Party on the Rise

The event, attended by an lively and passionate audience of predominantly older, white male backers who each paid £6 to attend, highlights the party’s growing confidence ahead of the Scottish vote.

Although the Scottish National Party remains ahead, Reform UK has gained significant ground in the past year, achieving a quarter of the vote in a recent parliamentary by-election. 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 party membership north of the border had increased fourfold 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 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 told supporters 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, speakers from the north-east vowed the party would “confront climate activists and those profiting from green policies”.

Farage himself expressed his pleasure at the party’s emergence as a force in Scottish politics in the last year, confessing to supporters that he was once told he “couldn't fill a small venue”.

Local Context

As the event was taking place, a few miles west in Falkirk town centre, demonstrators with opposing views assembled for what have become regular weekly confrontations near a hotel used to accommodate asylum seekers.

A group coordinating protests said it was galvanised by a criminal case involving an asylum seeker. Speaking previously, Scotland's leader warned that the tactic of the far-right 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 extremist opinions and people with “legitimate points” about strain on public services or neighbourhood security.