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The Reform UK figurehead addressed the biggest Reform UK public meeting held in Scotland to date, but declined to speak with local journalists following the event. In his place, recently switched member of the House of Lords the former Conservative donor was left to field questions on allegations of racism and anti-Jewish sentiment surrounding Farage.

Welcoming a New Recruit

Farage introduced the ex-Tory lord and wealthy businessman during a packed event of roughly seven hundred supporters at a hotel conference centre in central Scotland. Offord, who served as a Scotland Office minister under the last government and was until recently treasurer of the Scottish Conservatives, announced his intention to give up his peerage in order to become a candidate for Reform UK in next May’s Holyrood elections.

Farage said he was “delighted” to welcome Offord to the party. He described the switch as “a courageous and significant move”.

Dodging the Press

Farage spoke to the crowd following a difficult period which included him delivering a tirade against the BBC after they quizzed him regarding a report into claimed discriminatory and antisemitic behaviour from his teenage years. But, the leader avoided a planned media briefing after Saturday’s event.

When asked why his new party’s leader was not available to address growing claims concerning his history, the new recruit responded: “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 about Jewish students, Offord said: “I think that’s something he’ll need to consider with his own advisers.”

Insisting on Fitness

The peer maintained that Farage was “morally fit” to be prime minister and rejected claims of dog-whistle politics. During his speech, the leader had reiterated on his remarks 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 Scotland's First Minister criticised the initial comments as “racist”, and the Labour leader called them “toxic and divisive”, Offord maintained that his new leader was “highlighting a factual issue that “voters are discussing”.

A Party on the Rise

The rally, attended by an energetic and enthused crowd of predominantly older, white male backers who bought tickets for the event, highlights Reform's increasing self-assurance before next May’s elections.

Although the SNP continues to lead in the polls, Reform UK has made substantial progress in the past year, securing 26% 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 lately, polling up to 22%.

Announcing that Reform UK membership in Scotland had quadrupled 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, which would place Reform in “a very strong position” in the Scottish Parliament.

Campaign Rhetoric

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 “man the barricades as we “challenge the ruling class”, warning that “the next five months will be tough”.

Although the party has yet to produce any Scotland-specific policies, representatives vowed the party would “confront climate activists and those profiting from green policies”.

Farage himself underlined his delight at Reform's rise as a significant player in Scottish politics in the last year, admitting to the audience that he was once told he “couldn't fill a small venue”.

Local Context

Meanwhile, a few miles west in Falkirk town centre, demonstrators with opposing views were gathering for what have become regular weekly confrontations outside a local 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 apportion the blame … to asylum seekers or migrants and I think that is the root of the poison”.

He also made a clear distinction between those who hold far-right views and people with “valid concerns” about pressure on local services or neighbourhood security.