Nigel Farage addressed the largest the party's public meeting so far in Scotland, but declined to speak with local journalists following the event. In his place, newly defected peer Malcolm Offord took on the task of responding to queries on allegations of racism and antisemitism linked to Farage.
A High-Profile Defection
The leader presented the ex-Tory lord and wealthy businessman during a packed event of about 700 attendees in a hotel venue near Falkirk. Offord, who served 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 relinquish his seat in the Lords in order to become a candidate for Reform UK in the upcoming Scottish parliament vote.
The leader stated he was “delighted” to welcome the new member. He described the switch as “a brave and historic act”.
Avoiding Media Scrutiny
The Reform leader spoke to the crowd following a difficult period which saw him launch a fierce criticism of the broadcaster after they quizzed him about an investigation into alleged racist and remarks from his teenage years. However, the leader avoided the expected press huddle post-rally.
Questioned why Farage did not make himself available to answer mounting allegations about his past behaviour, Offord said: “That is a question for him to answer.”
Pressed on whether he believed an apology was necessary for the comments he is said to have made towards Jewish pupils, he stated: “I think that’s something he’ll need to consider with his own advisers.”
Insisting on Fitness
Offord insisted that Farage was “ethically suitable” to be the country's leader and denied he was employing coded political messaging. While addressing supporters, the leader had reiterated on previous comments about the number of Glasgow schoolchildren who are not native English speakers by asking the rally: “Who voted for the wholesale change of the population of Glasgow?”
Although the first minister, John Swinney condemned Farage’s original remarks as “discriminatory”, and Keir Starmer labeled them “harmful and polarising”, 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 event, attended by an energetic and enthused crowd of predominantly older, white male backers who bought tickets for the event, showcases 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 its first Holyrood byelection test. Following Scottish Labour's decline, the party has often relegated it to third in recent months, polling up to 22%.
Declaring that party membership north of the border had quadrupled over the last twelve months to a running total of 12,000, the party chair, David Bull said he believed it could win around twenty parliamentary seats in May, putting the party in “a very strong position” in the Scottish Parliament.
Fighting Talk
Thomas Kerr, one of Reform’s 19 Scottish councillors, prompted a roar of approval 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”, cautioning 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 “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 over the past 12 months, confessing to supporters that he was once told he “wouldn’t get 20 people in a room”.
Protests Nearby
Meanwhile, a few miles west in Falkirk town centre, demonstrators with opposing views assembled for a now-regular weekly standoff outside a local hotel where asylum seekers are now housed.
The organisers of the demonstrations said it was galvanised by a serious local crime. Speaking previously, Scotland's leader cautioned that the tactic of the far-right is to assign responsibility … to new arrivals and I think that is the root of the poison”.
He also made a clear distinction extremist opinions and people with “legitimate points” about strain on public services or neighbourhood security.
