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Nigel Farage spoke to the biggest Reform UK public meeting held in Scotland to date, but avoided engaging with the press corps afterwards. Instead, newly defected peer the former Conservative donor was left to field questions on allegations of racism and antisemitism linked to Farage.

A High-Profile Defection

The leader presented the ex-Tory lord and millionaire donor at a sold-out rally of about 700 supporters at a hotel conference centre near Falkirk. Offord, who served as a junior minister for Scotland in the previous administration and most recently served as treasurer of the Scottish Conservatives, 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 “extremely pleased” to welcome Offord to the party. 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 fierce criticism of the broadcaster for questioning him about an investigation into claimed discriminatory and antisemitic behaviour from his teenage years. However, the leader avoided a planned media briefing post-rally.

Questioned why Farage did not make himself available to answer mounting allegations about his past behaviour, the new recruit responded: “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 about Jewish students, he stated: “That is a matter for him to deliberate on with his team.”

Insisting on Fitness

Offord insisted that Farage was “morally fit” to be prime minister and rejected claims of dog-whistle politics. While addressing supporters, Farage had doubled down on previous comments about the number of Glasgow schoolchildren who are not native English speakers by asking the rally: “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”, the defector argued that Farage was “drawing attention to a real concern” that “voters are discussing”.

A Party on the Rise

The event, filled with an energetic and enthused crowd of largely male, white and middle-aged supporters who bought tickets for the event, highlights the party’s growing confidence ahead of the Scottish vote.

While the SNP continues to lead in the polls, Reform UK has gained significant ground recently, securing 26% of the vote in its first Holyrood byelection test. After the collapse in support for Scottish Labour, Reform has regularly pushed it into third place in recent months, polling up to 22%.

Declaring that party membership north of the border had increased fourfold over the last twelve months to 12,000 members, a senior party official said he believed it could win around twenty parliamentary seats in May, putting the party in “a very strong position” at Holyrood.

Fighting Talk

Thomas Kerr, a local representative for the party, prompted a roar of approval as he referred to the leader as “the future PM of the UK”. He told supporters to “man the barricades as we “challenge the ruling class”, warning that “the next five months will be tough”.

Although the party has yet to produce a distinct policy platform for Scotland, speakers from the north-east vowed the party would “confront climate activists and those profiting from green policies”.

The leader personally underlined his delight 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”.

Protests Nearby

As the event was taking place, not far away in Falkirk town centre, demonstrators with opposing views were gathering for a now-regular weekly standoff outside a local hotel used to accommodate asylum seekers.

A group coordinating protests said it was galvanised by a serious local crime. Speaking previously, First Minister John Swinney cautioned 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”.

However, he differentiated extremist opinions and people with “valid concerns” about pressure on local services or community safety.