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Nigel Farage addressed the largest Reform UK rally so far in Scotland, however avoided engaging with local journalists afterwards. Instead, newly defected member of the House of Lords the former Conservative donor took on the task of responding to queries on allegations of racism and antisemitism linked to the party leader.

A High-Profile Defection

Farage introduced the ex-Tory lord and wealthy businessman during a packed event of about 700 attendees in a hotel venue near Falkirk. The businessman, who worked as a junior minister for Scotland under the last government and most recently served as the Scottish Tory party's chief financial officer, announced his intention to give up his peerage in order to stand for the party in next May’s Holyrood elections.

The leader stated he was “delighted” to greet 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 saw him launch a fierce criticism of the broadcaster for questioning him regarding a report into alleged racist and antisemitic behaviour from his teenage years. However, the leader avoided a planned media briefing post-rally.

When asked why his new party’s leader was not available to answer mounting allegations concerning his history, the new recruit responded: “That is a question for him to answer.”

Challenged about whether he believed Farage should apologise for his alleged remarks 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 the country's leader and rejected claims of coded political messaging. During his speech, the leader had reiterated on his remarks 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?”

Although Scotland's First Minister condemned Farage’s original remarks as “racist”, and the Labour leader labeled them “toxic and divisive”, Offord maintained that his new leader was “drawing attention to a real concern” that “voters are discussing”.

A Party on the Rise

The event, filled with an lively and passionate audience of predominantly older, white male backers who bought tickets for the event, highlights the party’s growing confidence before next May’s elections.

While the Scottish National Party remains ahead, Reform UK has made substantial progress in the past year, 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 party membership north of the border 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, putting the party in “a powerful situation” at Holyrood.

Fighting Talk

A Reform councillor, 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 instructed the crowd to “man the barricades as we take on the political establishment”, cautioning that “the coming campaign will be difficult”.

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”.

The leader personally expressed his pleasure at Reform's rise as a significant player in the political scene in Scotland in the last year, confessing to supporters that in previous years he had been warned 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 were gathering for what have become regular weekly confrontations outside a local 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 cautioned that “what the far right do is to apportion the blame … 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 “valid concerns” about pressure on local services or community safety.