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PA Media<\/p>\nAngus CochraneSenior political journalist, BBC Scotland<\/p>\n
PA Media<\/p>\n
Nigel Farage unveiled Lord Offord at an event in Fife <\/p>\n
Former Conservative minister Lord Offord has been named as Reform UK’s Scottish leader.<\/p>\n
The ex-Scottish Tory treasurer was unveiled by party leader Nigel Farage at an event in Fife.<\/p>\n
He will lead the party into May’s Scottish Parliament election, with Reform aiming to make a major electoral breakthrough north of the border. <\/p>\n
At the event, Farage confirmed that he had held talks with Robert Jenrick, who had just been sacked from the Conservative frontbench for “plotting to defect”. <\/p>\n
Lord Offord – who is stepping down from the Lords and standing for election to Holyrood – said he saw the election as a “two-horse race” with the SNP.<\/p>\n
He said the party had more than 12,000 members in Scotland and a “really talented group of candidates”.<\/p>\n
Lord Offord insisted the party would run a “positive” campaign after being questioned about a Reform UK social media advert featuring Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar that was branded “blatantly racist”<\/a>.<\/p>\n Lord Offord signed his application to retire from the House of Lords at the press conference <\/p>\n Farage said about 100 Scottish candidates had undergone vetting and training in London.<\/p>\n The Reform UK leader told reporters: “I think we can surprise ourselves with just how many votes we manage to garner in these elections.”<\/p>\n He added: “A huge chunk of the Scottish electorate are looking for something different. And they’re tired of the decline this country has seen under SNP government.”<\/p>\n Farage spoke as UK Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch announced that she had sacked Tory shadow secretary Jenrick for “plotting to defect”.<\/p>\n The Reform leader confirmed he had spoken with Jenrick and “a number of very senior Conservatives”.<\/p>\n He said that for all of the talk of a supposed “Kemi bounce” a lot of Conservative senior politicians realise that the Tories will be “obliterated” in elections in Scotland, Wales and England in May.<\/p>\n Farage denied that he had signed a deal with Jenrick, but said he had “little doubt” that leaving the Conservatives to join Reform had been in the Tory frontbencher’s mind.<\/p>\n It was widely speculated that Lord Offord would be lined up to lead the party in Scotland following his defection from the Tories in December. <\/p>\n Several recent polls have suggested that Reform are on track to challenge Labour for second place behind the SNP in May’s election.<\/p>\n The party has one MSP, Graham Simpson, who defected from the Conservatives<\/a> in August. <\/p>\n Last month, Reform secured its first success at the ballot box in Scotland by winning a council by-election in West Lothian<\/a>.<\/p>\n Lord Offord served as a Tory frontbencher between 2021 and 2024.<\/p>\n Until December, he had been the party’s energy spokesman in the House of Lords.<\/p>\n The former minister announced last month that he intended to step down from the Lords and run as a Reform candidate for Holyrood. <\/p>\n As a life peer, Lord Offord’s peerage cannot be relinquished<\/a>. However, he has applied to retire as a member of the House of Lords from 30 January, signing his resignation letter on stage with Farage. <\/p>\n![\"PA](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4562fa20-f208-11f0-a422-4ba8a094a8fa.jpg.webp.webp\")
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