Nigel Farage spoke to the largest Reform UK rally held in Scotland to date, however avoided engaging with the press corps afterwards. In his place, recently switched peer the former Conservative donor took on the task of responding to queries on allegations of racism and antisemitism surrounding Farage.
Welcoming a New Recruit
Farage introduced the ex-Tory lord and wealthy businessman at a sold-out rally of about 700 attendees at a hotel conference centre in central Scotland. Offord, who served as a junior minister for Scotland 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 stand for Reform UK in next May’s Holyrood elections.
The leader stated he was “delighted” to welcome the new member. He described the switch as “a brave and historic act”.
Avoiding Media Scrutiny
Farage addressed the rally after a turbulent week which included him delivering a tirade against the BBC for questioning him regarding a report into claimed discriminatory and remarks as a youth. However, the leader avoided the expected press huddle after Saturday’s event.
Questioned why Farage was not available to address growing claims concerning his history, Offord said: “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 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 “ethically suitable” to be prime minister and rejected claims of coded political messaging. During his speech, Farage had doubled down on his remarks about the number of Glasgow schoolchildren who speak English as a second language by asking the rally: “Who authorised the complete transformation of Glasgow's demographics?”
While Scotland's First Minister condemned Farage’s original remarks as “discriminatory”, and Keir Starmer labeled them “toxic and divisive”, Offord maintained that Farage was “drawing attention to a real concern” that “voters are discussing”.
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 Reform's increasing self-assurance ahead of the Scottish vote.
While the SNP continues to lead in the polls, Reform UK has made substantial progress in the past year, achieving a quarter of the vote in its first Holyrood byelection test. Following Scottish Labour's decline, Reform has regularly pushed it into third place lately, with support reaching over a fifth.
Announcing that party membership north of the border 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” at Holyrood.
Campaign Rhetoric
A Reform councillor, a local representative for the party, elicited loud cheers as he described Farage as “Britain’s next prime minister”. He instructed the crowd to “man the barricades as we “challenge the ruling class”, warning that “the coming campaign will be difficult”.
Although the party has yet to produce a distinct policy platform for Scotland, representatives vowed the party would “confront climate activists and those profiting from green policies”.
The leader personally expressed his pleasure 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 Falkirk town centre, anti-immigration and anti-racist protesters were gathering for a now-regular weekly standoff near a hotel used to accommodate asylum seekers.
A group coordinating protests said it was galvanised by a serious local crime. 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 root of the poison”.
However, he differentiated between those who hold far-right views and people with “valid concerns” about pressure on local services or community safety.
