Nigel Farage reveals Reform UK's new leader in Scotland as Lord Malcolm Offord

Nigel Farage has announced the first leader of Reform UK in Scotland.

Lord Malcolm Offord, a former Tory minister who defected late last year, has been chosen to lead the party into the Holyrood election in May.

Farage said: “I have every confidence in the appointment of Malcolm, he has already shown his country that he is devoted to it.

“Now, he will lead it to a greater future.”

The Scottish businessman and financier is a former long-term member of the Conservative party.

Offord held the role of under secretary of state for Scotland under Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.

He also became under-secretary of state for exports until the Conservatives lost the 2024 election to Labour.

Until his defection, he served as treasurer for the Scottish Conservatives.

Lord Malcolm said: “It’s a great honour to be named today as the new leader of Reform UK Scotland.

“I shall be campaigning hard between now and May 7, to communicate a positive vision of how we can all work together to make Scotland the most successful part of the UK in the next 10 years.

“We represent ordinary, decent, hardworking Scots who are fed-up with mid-table mediocrity in Holyrood. Which is why we will be fielding Reform candidates in all 73 constituencies with one sole objective: to get Scotland back to the top of the table.

“Make no mistake, this is now a two-horse race between Reform and the SNP.

“This is an exciting time for Scotland. The election in May allows Scots to finally get rid of this rotten SNP government who have had plenty of time to deliver prosperity for Scotland and have failed.

“Scotland needs Reform and Reform has arrived in Scotland.”

Asked earlier this month whether it was his ambition to be Scotland’s first minister, Lord Malcolm said: “Yes, I mean, you’ve got to be in it to win it.”

Some polls ahead of May’s Holyrood election have put Reform UK in second place behind the SNP, pushing Labour to third.

The party recorded their best ever parliamentary election result in Scotland at the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election last summer, with a 26% share of the vote.

Reform UK also celebrated its first-ever election win in Scotland just before Christmas, picking up a council seat in Whitburn and Blackburn in West Lothian.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said “Lord Offord’s appointment confirms that Reform are simply Tories in disguise – the same team, with a different badge.

“Like so much of Reform’s top brass, Lord Offord was a loyal member of the Tory party until he saw a chance for personal gain.

“He has bankrolled Tory campaigns and served in the disastrous governments of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, which did so much damage to our country.

“No-one is buying the pretence that Lord Offord is any kind of champion for working people – he is establishment through and through.

“Just like the Tories before them, Reform don’t understand or care about Scotland.”

Lib Dem MSP Jamie Greene said: “Make no mistake, Reform don’t care about Scotland. They haven’t put forward a single sensible idea for how to fix things. It’s all flannel and froth.

“Lord Offord would have done better for his home town of Greenock to come and join me in the sensible, centre-ground, not the far-right fringes of populism.

“Only the Scottish Liberal Democrats have a realistic plan to get our country moving again, without the bitterness and division Offord and his gang will spout in the coming months.”