🔗 Share this article Reform UK Leader Speaks at Movement's Largest Gathering in Scotland Amid Controversy and Defection The Reform UK figurehead addressed the largest the party's public meeting so far in Scotland, but avoided engaging with the press corps following the event. Instead, newly defected peer the former Conservative donor took on the task of responding to queries on claims of discriminatory behaviour and antisemitism surrounding the party leader. A High-Profile Defection The leader presented the ex-Tory lord and millionaire donor during a sold-out rally of roughly seven hundred attendees at a hotel conference centre in central Scotland. The businessman, who worked as a Scotland Office minister in the previous administration and most recently served as the Scottish Tory party's chief financial officer, announced his intention to give up his peerage in order to stand for Reform UK in next May’s Holyrood elections. The leader stated he was “extremely pleased” to welcome the new member. He called the peer’s defection as “a brave and historic act”. Avoiding Media Scrutiny The Reform leader spoke to the crowd after a turbulent week which saw him launch a fierce criticism of the broadcaster for questioning him regarding a report into claimed discriminatory and remarks from his teenage years. However, the leader avoided the expected press huddle post-rally. Questioned why Farage did not make himself available to address growing claims concerning his history, the new recruit responded: “You’ll need to ask him that question.” Pressed on whether he believed an apology was necessary for the comments he is said to have made towards Jewish pupils, he stated: “That is a matter for him to deliberate on with his team.” Insisting on Fitness Offord insisted that Farage was “ethically suitable” to be prime minister and rejected claims of dog-whistle politics. During his speech, the leader had reiterated on previous comments 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?” Although Scotland's First Minister criticised the initial comments as “discriminatory”, and the Labour leader labeled them “harmful and polarising”, the defector argued that Farage was “drawing attention to a real concern” that “voters are discussing”. Growing Confidence The event, filled with an lively and passionate audience of largely male, white and middle-aged supporters who bought tickets for the event, showcases the party’s growing confidence before next May’s elections. Although the SNP continues to lead in the polls, Reform UK has made substantial progress in the past year, achieving a quarter of the vote in its first Holyrood byelection test. Following Scottish Labour's decline, the party has often relegated it to third lately, 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 said he believed it could gain up to 20 MSPs in May, which would place Reform in “a powerful situation” in the Scottish Parliament. Campaign Rhetoric Thomas Kerr, one of Reform’s 19 Scottish councillors, prompted a roar of approval as he referred to the leader as “the future PM of the UK”. He told supporters to “prepare for a fight” as we take on the political establishment”, warning that “the coming campaign will be difficult”. Although the party has yet to produce a distinct policy platform for Scotland, speakers from the north-east pledged Reform would “take on the green blob and the net-zero grifters”. The leader personally underlined his delight at Reform's rise as a significant player in Scottish politics in the last year, admitting to the audience that in previous years he had been warned he “couldn't fill a small venue”. Protests Nearby As the event was taking place, a few miles west in Falkirk town centre, anti-immigration and anti-racist protesters assembled for a now-regular weekly standoff outside a local hotel where asylum seekers are now housed. The organisers of the demonstrations 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”. He also made a clear distinction between those who hold far-right views and people with “legitimate points” about pressure on local services or community safety.