🔗 Share this article Reform UK Leader Speaks at Party's Biggest Gathering in Scotland Following Scrutiny and Defection The Reform UK figurehead spoke to the biggest the party's public meeting so far in Scotland, but avoided engaging with local journalists afterwards. Instead, newly defected peer Malcolm Offord took on the task of field questions on allegations of racism and anti-Jewish sentiment linked to Farage. Welcoming a New Recruit The leader presented the ex-Tory lord and millionaire donor during a sold-out rally of roughly seven hundred attendees at a hotel conference centre in central Scotland. Offord, who served as a junior minister for Scotland in the previous administration and was until recently treasurer of the Scottish Conservatives, stated his plan to give up his peerage in order to become a candidate for the party in next May’s Holyrood elections. The leader stated he was “extremely pleased” to welcome Offord to the party. He described the switch as “a courageous and significant move”. Dodging the Press The Reform leader addressed the rally after a turbulent week 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, Farage dodged a planned media briefing after Saturday’s event. Questioned why Farage was not available to answer mounting allegations about his past behaviour, Offord said: “That is a question for him to answer.” Challenged about whether he believed an apology was necessary for his alleged remarks towards Jewish pupils, he stated: “That is a matter for him to deliberate on with his team.” Insisting on Fitness Offord insisted that the leader is “morally fit” to be prime minister and denied he was employing dog-whistle politics. While addressing supporters, Farage had doubled down on his remarks about pupils in Glasgow who are not native English speakers by asking the rally: “Who authorised the complete transformation of Glasgow's demographics?” While the first minister, John Swinney criticised the initial comments as “racist”, and Keir Starmer labeled them “harmful and polarising”, Offord maintained that his new leader was “highlighting a factual issue that people are talking about on the doorstep”. Growing Confidence The rally, filled with an lively and passionate audience 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. Although the Scottish National Party remains ahead, the party has made substantial progress recently, securing 26% 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, polling up to 22%. Announcing that Reform UK membership in Scotland had quadrupled in the past year to a running total of 12,000, 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 A Reform councillor, a local representative for the party, elicited loud cheers as he referred to the leader as “the future PM of the UK”. He instructed the crowd to “man the barricades as we take on the political establishment”, warning that “the next five months will be tough”. Although the party has yet to produce any Scotland-specific policies, speakers from the north-east pledged Reform would “confront climate activists and those profiting from green policies”. The leader personally underlined his delight at the party’s emergence as a force in the political scene in Scotland over the past 12 months, admitting to the audience that he was once told he “wouldn’t get 20 people in a room”. Local Context Meanwhile, not far away in the heart of Falkirk, demonstrators with opposing views were gathering for a now-regular weekly standoff outside a local hotel used to accommodate asylum seekers. A group coordinating protests stated they were motivated by a criminal case involving an asylum seeker. In an interview, First Minister John Swinney warned that “what the far right do 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 pressure on local services or neighbourhood security.