Nigel Farage has defiantly pledged to ignore his political opponents as his Reform UK party secured its first ever representative in the House of Lords. The breakthrough came with the high-profile defection of Lord Malcolm Offord, announced to a crowd of around 750 supporters at a rally in Falkirk on Saturday.
A Historic Defection for Reform UK
The delighted Reform leader introduced Lord Malcolm Offord, the until-now Treasurer of the Conservative Party in Scotland, as the latest politician to join the party. Farage described the move as 'a brave and historic act' and stated that Offord would 'take Reform UK Scotland to a new level.'
The Scottish financier and businessman, who was made a life peer by Boris Johnson in 2021, previously served as a Scotland Office minister and was a frontbench speaker in the Lords for the Conservatives. He had also donated nearly £150,000 to the Tory party prior to his defection.
In a significant commitment, Lord Offord confirmed he would stand for Reform in the Scottish Parliament elections in May 2025, and would give up his place in the House of Lords to campaign for a seat at Holyrood.
Farage's Defiant Stance Amid Controversy
Farage's speech in Falkirk came in a week where he faced renewed scrutiny over alleged anti-Semitic and racist comments he is said to have made as a teenager at Dulwich College in the 1970s and 80s. The Reform UK leader vowed to 'ignore' his critics and focus on his party's positive message.
'I'm not here to play a political game of Punch and Judy with the others,' Farage told the rally. 'We're going to ignore them, to do our own thing, we're going to go out and sell to the Scottish people a manifesto based on hope, based on making people's lives better.'
He has denied making racist remarks in a 'malicious or nasty way' or directly abusing anyone, citing supportive letters from former schoolmates in his defence.
Offord's Vision and Critique of the Conservatives
Lord Offord, who is Greenock-born and was made Baron Offord of Garvel, used his platform to launch a stinging critique of his former party and outline his ambitions for Scotland. He stated his objectives were to remove the 'rotten SNP government after 18 years' and to present a positive vision to restore Scotland as a 'prosperous, proud, healthy and happy country.'
He was scathing about the Scottish Conservatives, stating: 'What I found, quite candidly, is a party which is regional not national, parochial not political, timid not ambitious; a party without a vision.' He accused the Tories of having 'given up on Scotland.'
This defection marks Reform's latest significant gain in Scotland, following the earlier move by Scottish Tory MSP Graham Simpson and a host of councillors. Lord Offord had previously stood for Holyrood in 2021 in the Lothian region but finished fifth.
