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Nigel Farage spoke to the biggest Reform UK rally held in Scotland to date, but declined to speak with local journalists afterwards. Instead, newly defected member of the House of Lords Malcolm Offord took on the task of field questions on claims of discriminatory behaviour and anti-Jewish sentiment linked to the party leader.

A High-Profile Defection

Farage introduced the former Conservative peer and wealthy businessman at a packed event of about 700 supporters at a hotel conference centre in central Scotland. The businessman, who worked as a Scotland Office minister under the last government and most recently served as the Scottish Tory party's chief financial officer, stated his plan to relinquish his seat in the Lords in order to become a candidate for the party in the upcoming Scottish parliament vote.

The leader stated he was “delighted” to welcome Offord to the party. He described the switch as “a brave and historic act”.

Dodging the Press

Farage addressed the rally after a turbulent week 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. But, Farage dodged the expected press huddle post-rally.

When asked why his new party’s leader did not make himself available to address growing claims concerning his history, Offord said: “You’ll need to ask him that question.”

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

Defending the Leader

The peer maintained that the leader is “ethically suitable” to be the country's leader and denied he was employing dog-whistle politics. During his speech, the leader had reiterated on his remarks about pupils in Glasgow who speak English as a second language by asking the rally: “Who voted for the wholesale change of the population of Glasgow?”

Although the first minister, John Swinney condemned Farage’s original remarks as “racist”, and the Labour leader called them “harmful and polarising”, the defector argued that his new leader was “drawing attention to a real concern” that people are talking about on the doorstep”.

Growing Confidence

The rally, attended by 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 Scottish National Party remains ahead, the party 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, Reform has regularly pushed it into third place in recent months, polling up to 22%.

Announcing that party membership north of the border had increased fourfold over the last twelve months to 12,000 members, the party chair, David Bull said he believed it could gain up to 20 MSPs in May, putting the party in “a very strong position” in the Scottish Parliament.

Fighting Talk

A Reform councillor, one of Reform’s 19 Scottish councillors, elicited loud cheers as he described Farage as “the future PM of the UK”. He instructed the crowd to “prepare for a fight” as we take on the political establishment”, warning that “the coming campaign will be difficult”.

Despite not yet publishing any Scotland-specific policies, speakers from the north-east vowed the party would “take on the green blob and the net-zero grifters”.

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, confessing to supporters that he was once told he “couldn't fill a small venue”.

Local Context

As the event was taking place, not far away in Falkirk town centre, anti-immigration and anti-racist protesters assembled for what have become regular weekly confrontations near a hotel where asylum seekers are now housed.

A group coordinating protests stated they were motivated by a criminal case involving an asylum seeker. Speaking previously, First Minister John Swinney warned that “what the far right do is to assign responsibility … to asylum seekers or migrants and I think that is the source of a harmful narrative”.

He also made a clear distinction between those who hold far-right views and people with “legitimate points” about strain on public services or community safety.