Lord Offord named as Reform UK's Scottish leader

Lord Offord, the former Conservative minister, has been named as the Reform UK's Scottish leader. Nigel Farage, the ex-Scottish Tory treasurer, was unveiled by party leader Nigel Falage at an event in Fife. He will lead the party in the Scottish Parliament election in May, with reform aiming for a major electoral breakthrough north of the border. Farage revealed at the party that he had held talks with Robert Jenrick, who had just been barred from the Conservative frontbench for "plotting to fail.

Lord Offord, who is stepping down from the Lords and running for office to Holyrood, said the election was a two-horse race with the SNP. According to him, the party had more than 12,000 members in Scotland and a

very diverse group of candidates. After being asked about a Reform UK social media commercial starring Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar who was branded

blatantly racist,Lord Offord maintained that the party would run apositive" campaign.

About 100 Scottish candidates had undergone vetting and training in London, according to Farage.

I think we'll be surprised ourselves with how many votes we manage to get in these elections,

the Reform UK leader told reporters.

A major portion of the Scottish electorate is looking for something different,

he said. And they're sick of the country's under SNP rule.

Farage told UK Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch that she had fired Tory shadow secretary Jenrick for

plotting to fail. Jenrick and a number of very senior Conservatives had spoken to him, according to the Reform leader. In May's elections in Scotland, Wales, and England, he said for all of the hype surrounding a rumoured Kemi bounce debate, a number of Conservative senior politicians understand that the Tories will be obliterated in elections in England, Farage denied that he had signed a Jenrick contract, but said he was little concerned that leaving the Conservatives to join Reform had been in the Tory frontbencher's mind.

Following Lord Offord's defection from the Tories in December, it was widely predicted that he would be lined up to lead the party in Scotland. Several recent polls have indicated that Reform is on track to challenge Labour for second place in May's election, behind the SNP. Graham Simpson, the party's leader who was deposed from the Conservatives in August, is the party leader. Reform won a council by-election in West Lothian last month, giving the first success at the ballot box in Scotland.

Lord Offord served as a Tory frontbencher from 2021 to 2024. He had been the party's energy spokesperson in the House of Lords before December. Last month, the former minister declared that he intends to step down from the Lords and run as a Reform candidate for Holyrood. Lord Offord's peerage as a life peer cannot be reaffirmed. Nevertheless, he has applied to resign as a member of the House of Lords from the 30th of January, signing his resignation letter on stage with Farage. The Scottish Parliament is currently considering a bill introduced by Reform MSP Simpson that would prohibit MSPs from sitting as MPs or members of the House of Lords.

Who is Malcolm Offord?

During the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, Lord Offord, who founded investment firm Badenoch and Co, was the campaign's director. After being named a life peer by Boris Johnson, he volunteered almost £150,000 to the Conservative Party in 2021. He became Baron Offord of Garvel and was appointed as a junior minister in the Scotland Office. Lord Offord served as a minister of exports from 2023 to 2024, before being voted out of office in 2024.