🔗 Share this article Reform UK Leader Speaks at Movement's Largest Gathering in Scotland Following Controversy and High-Profile Switch The Reform UK figurehead addressed the largest Reform UK rally held in Scotland to date, but avoided engaging with the press corps following the event. Instead, recently switched member of the House of Lords Malcolm Offord was left to field questions on claims of discriminatory behaviour and anti-Jewish sentiment surrounding the party leader. A High-Profile Defection The leader presented the former Conservative peer and millionaire donor during a sold-out rally of about 700 attendees in a hotel venue near Falkirk. Offord, who served as a junior minister for Scotland under the last government and was until recently treasurer of the Scottish Conservatives, 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 “extremely pleased” to welcome Offord to the party. He called the peer’s defection as “a brave and historic act”. Dodging the Press Farage spoke to the crowd after a turbulent week which saw him launch a tirade against the BBC for questioning him regarding a report into alleged racist and antisemitic behaviour from his teenage years. But, Farage dodged a planned media briefing post-rally. When asked why his new party’s leader did not make himself available to address growing claims concerning his history, Offord said: “That is a question for him to answer.” Pressed on if he thought an apology was necessary for his alleged remarks towards Jewish pupils, Offord said: “I think that’s something he’ll need to consider with his own advisers.” Insisting on Fitness Offord insisted that Farage was “morally fit” 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 pupils in Glasgow who are not native English speakers by posing the question to the crowd: “Who authorised the complete transformation of Glasgow's demographics?” While the first minister, John Swinney condemned Farage’s original remarks as “racist”, and Keir Starmer called them “toxic and divisive”, Offord maintained that Farage 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 largely male, white and middle-aged supporters who bought tickets for the event, showcases the party’s growing confidence ahead of the Scottish vote. Although the SNP continues to lead in the polls, Reform UK has gained significant ground recently, securing 26% of the vote in a recent parliamentary by-election. Following Scottish Labour's decline, Reform has regularly pushed it into third place in recent months, polling up to 22%. Declaring that Reform UK membership in Scotland had quadrupled in the past year to 12,000 members, a senior party official stated his belief it could gain up to 20 MSPs in May, putting the party in “a powerful situation” in the Scottish Parliament. Campaign Rhetoric Thomas Kerr, one of Reform’s 19 Scottish councillors, prompted a roar of approval as he described Farage as “Britain’s next prime minister”. He instructed the crowd to “prepare for a fight” as we “challenge the ruling class”, warning that “the coming campaign will be difficult”. Although the party has yet to produce any Scotland-specific policies, representatives vowed the party would “take on the green blob and the net-zero grifters”. Farage himself expressed his pleasure at Reform's rise as a significant player in the political scene in Scotland over the past 12 months, admitting to the audience that in previous years he had been warned he “couldn't fill a small venue”. Protests Nearby Meanwhile, not far away in Falkirk town centre, demonstrators with opposing views were gathering for what have become regular weekly confrontations outside a local hotel used to accommodate asylum seekers. The organisers of the demonstrations said it was galvanised by a criminal case involving an asylum seeker. In an interview, Scotland's leader warned that “what the far right do is to assign responsibility … to new arrivals and I think that is the root of the poison”. However, he differentiated extremist opinions and people with “legitimate points” about pressure on local services or neighbourhood security.