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Nigel Farage addressed the biggest the party's rally held in Scotland to date, but avoided engaging with local journalists afterwards. Instead, recently switched member of the House of Lords the former Conservative donor took on the task of field questions on allegations of racism and antisemitism linked to Farage.

Welcoming a New Recruit

Farage introduced the ex-Tory lord and millionaire donor at a packed event of about 700 attendees at a hotel conference centre in central Scotland. The businessman, who worked as a junior minister for Scotland under the last government and was until recently treasurer of the Scottish Conservatives, announced his intention 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 greet the new member. He described the switch as “a brave and historic act”.

Avoiding Media Scrutiny

The Reform leader 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. However, Farage dodged the expected press huddle post-rally.

Questioned why Farage was not available to answer mounting allegations concerning his history, Offord said: “That is a question for him to answer.”

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

Insisting on Fitness

The peer maintained that the leader is “ethically suitable” to be the country's leader and rejected claims of dog-whistle politics. While addressing supporters, the leader had reiterated on his remarks about the number of Glasgow schoolchildren who speak English as a second language by posing the question to the crowd: “Who voted for the wholesale change of the population of Glasgow?”

Although the first minister, John Swinney criticised Farage’s original remarks as “discriminatory”, and Keir Starmer called them “toxic and divisive”, Offord maintained that Farage was “highlighting a factual issue that “voters are discussing”.

A Party on the Rise

The event, attended by an energetic and enthused crowd of predominantly older, white male backers who each paid £6 to attend, highlights the party’s growing confidence ahead of the Scottish vote.

Although the SNP continues to lead in the polls, the party has gained significant ground in the past year, securing 26% of the vote in its first Holyrood byelection test. After the collapse in support for Scottish Labour, the party has often relegated it to third in recent months, polling up to 22%.

Declaring that party membership north of the border had increased fourfold over the last twelve months to a running total of 12,000, the party chair, David Bull said he believed it could gain up to 20 MSPs in May, putting the party in “a powerful situation” at Holyrood.

Fighting Talk

Thomas Kerr, a local representative for the party, prompted a roar of approval as he described Farage as “Britain’s next prime minister”. He told supporters to “man the barricades 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 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 the political scene in Scotland in the last year, confessing to supporters that in previous years he had been warned he “wouldn’t get 20 people in a room”.

Local Context

Meanwhile, not far away in the heart of Falkirk, 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 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 “legitimate points” about strain on public services or neighbourhood security.