Nigel Farage spoke to the biggest Reform UK public meeting so far in Scotland, however declined to speak with local journalists following the event. In his place, newly defected peer Malcolm Offord was left to responding to queries on claims of discriminatory behaviour and antisemitism linked to Farage.
Welcoming a New Recruit
The leader presented the former Conservative peer and millionaire donor during a packed event of about 700 attendees at a hotel conference centre near Falkirk. Offord, who served as a junior minister for Scotland in the previous administration and most recently served as the Scottish Tory party's chief financial officer, stated his plan to relinquish his seat in the Lords in order to become a candidate for Reform UK in next May’s Holyrood elections.
The leader stated he was “delighted” to greet Offord to the party. He called the peer’s defection as “a courageous and significant move”.
Dodging the Press
The Reform leader addressed the rally after a turbulent week which saw him launch a tirade against the BBC after they quizzed him regarding a report into claimed discriminatory and antisemitic behaviour as a youth. However, Farage dodged the expected press huddle post-rally.
When asked why his new party’s leader was not available to address growing claims about his past behaviour, Offord said: “You’ll need to ask him that question.”
Pressed on whether he believed an apology was necessary for his alleged remarks about Jewish students, he stated: “I think that’s something he’ll need to consider with his own advisers.”
Insisting on Fitness
Offord insisted that Farage was “morally fit” to be prime minister and rejected claims of dog-whistle politics. During his speech, the leader had reiterated on previous comments about pupils in Glasgow who are not native English speakers by asking the rally: “Who voted for the wholesale change of the population of Glasgow?”
While the first minister, John Swinney condemned Farage’s original remarks as “discriminatory”, and Keir Starmer called them “toxic and divisive”, Offord maintained that Farage was “drawing attention to a real concern” that people are talking about on the doorstep”.
A Party on the Rise
The rally, attended by an energetic and enthused crowd of predominantly older, white male backers who each paid £6 to attend, showcases the party’s growing confidence before next May’s elections.
Although the Scottish National Party remains ahead, the party has made substantial progress 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 lately, with support reaching over a fifth.
Announcing that Reform UK membership in Scotland had quadrupled in the past year to 12,000 members, a senior party official stated his belief it could gain up to 20 MSPs in May, which would place Reform in “a powerful situation” at Holyrood.
Campaign Rhetoric
Thomas Kerr, a local representative for the party, elicited loud cheers as he described Farage as “the future PM of the UK”. He instructed the crowd to “prepare for a fight” as we take on the political establishment”, warning that “the coming campaign will be difficult”.
Despite not yet publishing a distinct policy platform for Scotland, representatives pledged Reform would “take on the green blob and the net-zero grifters”.
Farage himself expressed his pleasure at the party’s emergence as a force in Scottish politics in the last year, confessing to supporters that in previous years he had been warned he “couldn't fill a small venue”.
Local Context
Meanwhile, a few miles west in the heart of Falkirk, 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 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”.
However, he differentiated between those who hold far-right views and people with “legitimate points” about pressure on local services or neighbourhood security.
