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The Reform UK figurehead spoke to the biggest the party's public meeting so far in Scotland, but avoided engaging with local journalists afterwards. In his place, 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 Farage.

A High-Profile Defection

The leader presented the ex-Tory lord and wealthy businessman at a sold-out rally of roughly seven hundred supporters at a hotel conference centre near Falkirk. Offord, who served as a junior minister for Scotland under the last government and most recently served as treasurer of the Scottish Conservatives, stated his plan to give up his peerage in order to become a candidate for Reform UK 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”.

Avoiding Media Scrutiny

The Reform leader addressed the rally following a difficult period which included him delivering a fierce criticism of the broadcaster for questioning him regarding a report into alleged racist and remarks from his teenage years. However, Farage dodged a planned media briefing post-rally.

Questioned why Farage did not make himself available to address growing claims concerning his history, Offord said: “That is a question for him to answer.”

Challenged about whether he believed an apology was necessary for his alleged remarks towards Jewish pupils, he stated: “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 rejected claims of dog-whistle politics. During his speech, Farage had doubled down on previous comments about the number of Glasgow schoolchildren who are not native English speakers by posing the question to the crowd: “Who authorised the complete transformation of Glasgow's demographics?”

Although the first minister, John Swinney criticised Farage’s original remarks as “discriminatory”, and the Labour leader labeled them “toxic and divisive”, the defector argued that his new leader was “drawing attention to a real concern” that “voters are discussing”.

A Party on the Rise

The rally, filled with an lively and passionate audience of predominantly older, white male backers who each paid £6 to attend, showcases the party’s growing confidence ahead of the Scottish vote.

Although the SNP continues to lead in the polls, Reform UK has made substantial progress recently, securing 26% of the vote in its first Holyrood byelection test. Following Scottish Labour's decline, the party has often relegated it to third lately, 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 gain up to 20 MSPs in May, which would place Reform in “a very strong position” in the Scottish Parliament.

Fighting Talk

Thomas Kerr, one of Reform’s 19 Scottish councillors, elicited loud cheers as he described Farage as “Britain’s next prime minister”. He told supporters to “man the barricades as we take on the political establishment”, cautioning that “the coming campaign will be difficult”.

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

Farage himself underlined his delight at Reform's rise as a significant player in Scottish politics in the last year, confessing to supporters that in previous years he had been warned he “wouldn’t get 20 people in a room”.

Protests Nearby

As the event was taking place, a few miles west in Falkirk town centre, anti-immigration and anti-racist protesters 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 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”.

However, he differentiated extremist opinions and people with “legitimate points” about pressure on local services or neighbourhood security.