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Nigel Farage spoke to the biggest Reform UK public meeting held in Scotland to date, but declined to speak with local journalists following the event. In his place, recently switched member of the House of Lords the former Conservative donor was left to responding to queries on claims of discriminatory behaviour and antisemitism linked to the party leader.

A High-Profile Defection

The leader presented the ex-Tory lord and wealthy businessman at a sold-out rally of about 700 supporters at a hotel conference centre near Falkirk. The businessman, who worked as a Scotland Office minister in the previous administration and was until recently treasurer of the Scottish Conservatives, stated his plan to relinquish his seat in the Lords in order to become a candidate for Reform UK in next May’s Holyrood elections.

Farage said he was “extremely pleased” to welcome the new member. He described the switch as “a courageous and significant move”.

Dodging the Press

Farage addressed the rally after a turbulent week which included him delivering a tirade against the BBC for questioning him about an investigation into alleged racist and remarks from his teenage years. But, the leader avoided a planned media briefing after Saturday’s event.

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.”

Challenged about if he thought an apology was necessary for his alleged remarks towards Jewish pupils, he stated: “That is a matter for him to deliberate on with his team.”

Defending the Leader

The peer maintained that Farage was “ethically suitable” to be prime minister and rejected claims of dog-whistle politics. While addressing supporters, Farage had doubled down on his remarks about the number of Glasgow schoolchildren who are not native English speakers by posing the question to the crowd: “Who voted for the wholesale change of the population of Glasgow?”

While the first minister, John Swinney criticised the initial comments as “discriminatory”, and Keir Starmer called them “harmful and polarising”, Offord maintained that his new leader was “drawing attention to a real concern” that people are talking about on the doorstep”.

A Party on the Rise

The event, 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.

Although the SNP continues to lead in the polls, Reform UK has gained significant ground in the past year, securing 26% of the vote in its first Holyrood byelection test. Following Scottish Labour's decline, the party has often relegated it to third in recent months, polling up to 22%.

Announcing that party membership north of the border had increased fourfold in the past year to a running total of 12,000, the party chair, David Bull stated his belief it could gain up to 20 MSPs in May, which would place Reform in “a powerful situation” at Holyrood.

Fighting Talk

A Reform councillor, one of Reform’s 19 Scottish councillors, elicited loud cheers as he described Farage as “Britain’s next prime minister”. He told supporters to “prepare for a fight” as we take on the political establishment”, cautioning that “the next five months will be tough”.

Although the party has yet to produce a distinct policy platform for Scotland, representatives pledged Reform 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 in the last year, admitting to the audience that he was once told he “wouldn’t get 20 people in a room”.

Protests Nearby

Meanwhile, not far away in Falkirk town centre, demonstrators with opposing views were gathering for a now-regular weekly standoff outside a local hotel where asylum seekers are now housed.

A group coordinating protests said it was galvanised by a serious local crime. Speaking previously, First Minister John Swinney cautioned that the tactic of the far-right is to apportion the blame … to asylum seekers or migrants and I think that is the source of a harmful narrative”.

However, he differentiated between those who hold far-right views and people with “valid concerns” about strain on public services or community safety.