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The Reform UK figurehead spoke to the largest Reform UK rally so far in Scotland, however avoided engaging with the press corps following the event. Instead, recently switched member of the House of Lords the former Conservative donor was left to field questions on allegations of racism and antisemitism linked to Farage.

Welcoming a New Recruit

The leader presented the former Conservative peer and wealthy businessman at a sold-out rally of about 700 supporters in a hotel venue near Falkirk. Offord, who served as a Scotland Office minister under the last government and most recently served as the Scottish Tory party's chief financial officer, announced his intention to relinquish his seat in the Lords in order to stand for the party in the upcoming Scottish parliament vote.

The leader stated he was “delighted” to welcome the new member. He called the peer’s defection as “a courageous and significant move”.

Avoiding Media Scrutiny

The Reform leader spoke to the crowd following a difficult period which included him delivering a tirade against the BBC for questioning him about an investigation into claimed discriminatory and antisemitic behaviour as a youth. However, Farage dodged a planned media briefing post-rally.

When asked why his new party’s leader was not available to address growing claims about his past behaviour, Offord said: “That is a question for him to answer.”

Pressed on whether he believed Farage should apologise for the comments he is said to have made towards Jewish pupils, Offord said: “That is a matter for him to deliberate on with his team.”

Insisting on Fitness

Offord insisted that Farage was “morally fit” to be the country's leader and denied he was employing dog-whistle politics. While addressing supporters, Farage had doubled down on previous comments about pupils in Glasgow who speak English as a second language by posing the question to the crowd: “Who authorised the complete transformation of Glasgow's demographics?”

Although the first minister, John Swinney condemned the initial comments as “discriminatory”, and Keir Starmer labeled them “toxic and divisive”, the defector argued that Farage was “highlighting a factual issue that “voters are discussing”.

A Party on the Rise

The event, attended by an lively and passionate audience of predominantly older, white male backers who bought tickets for the event, highlights Reform's increasing self-assurance ahead of the Scottish vote.

While the Scottish National Party remains ahead, the party has gained significant ground recently, achieving a quarter of the vote in a recent parliamentary by-election. After the collapse in support for Scottish Labour, Reform has regularly pushed it into third place in recent months, with support reaching over a fifth.

Announcing that party membership north of the border had quadrupled in the past year to a running total of 12,000, the party chair, David Bull said he believed it could win around twenty parliamentary seats 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 “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, representatives pledged Reform 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 Scottish politics in the last year, admitting to the audience that he was once told he “couldn't fill a small venue”.

Protests Nearby

Meanwhile, a few miles west 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 criminal case involving an asylum seeker. In an interview, Scotland's leader cautioned that the tactic of the far-right is to assign responsibility … to new arrivals 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 strain on public services or neighbourhood security.