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Lord Malcolm Offord, a former Conservative business and Scotland Office Minister, has defected to Reform UK.
Nigel Farage unveiled Lord Offord at a rally held at the Macdonald Inchyra hotel in Falkirk on Saturday.
Lord Offord served as the Treasurer of the Scottish Conservatives and held a position on the Lords front bench from 2021 to 2024. Until his resignation on Saturday, he was the Conservative spokesman in the Lords on energy matters.
During the rally, he announced his intention to resign from the Lords and campaign as a Reform candidate in the 2026 Holyrood elections.
In announcing his defection, Lord Offord accused the Conservatives of “giving up” on Scotland.
He characterized the party as “parochial, not political” and described it as a “party without a vision”.
“I’m concerned for Scottish politics, very concerned about what happens in Scotland,” he stated.
“And that’s why I’m leaving the Scottish Conservative Party, because the Scottish Conservative Party, I believe, have given up on Scotland and, ladies and gentlemen, I can’t do that.”
He added: “From today, for the next five months, day and night, I shall be campaigning with all of you tirelessly for two objectives.
“The first objective is to remove this rotten SNP government after 18 years, and the second is to present a positive vision for Scotland inside the UK, to restore Scotland to being a prosperous, proud, healthy and happy country.”
While a life peerage cannot be renounced, peers are able to resign their membership of the House of Lords.
Legislation passed earlier this year disqualifies members of the House of Lords from becoming members of the Scottish Parliament.
Reform currently holds one MSP at Holyrood, Graham Simpson, formerly of the Conservative party, who defected to the party in August.
Farage expressed his “delight” in welcoming Lord Offord to Reform, calling the defection “a brave and historic act”.
He further stated: “He will take Reform UK Scotland to a new level.”
A spokesperson for the Scottish Conservatives responded: “Any vote for Reform next year will only tighten the SNP’s grip on power at Holyrood.
“Nigel Farage has been clear he is fine with John Swinney staying as first minister, his party stood pro-independence candidates in the last election, and he is still courting others who would break up the UK.”
SNP MP Stephen Gethins stated he was unsurprised by the “convergence between the Conservatives and Reform”.
Speaking to BBC Scotland News, he said: “Nigel Farage has got a dreadful track record and the SNP are going to take him on on it at the Holyrood elections.
“Instead of leaning into Reform’s policy agenda, which has failed, as Labour and the Conservatives are doing, the SNP stands against everything Reform is for.”
Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie referred to Reform as a “party of failed Conservatives playing political musical chairs”.
She commented: “This defection proves what we already know, Reform aren’t even Tories in disguise anymore, they are just Tories – the same Tories that broke the immigration system, collapsed the economy and left working Scots to pay the price.
“This isn’t change – it’s the same failed politicians and failed ideas trying to divide our country.”
Scottish Greens constitutional spokesman Patrick Harvie added: “Reform is the party of the super rich. They have no interest in improving the lives of ordinary people and families.”
Lord Offord, the founder of investment firm Badenoch and Co, was granted a life peerage in 2021 under Boris Johnson.
He had previously donated nearly £150,000 to the Conservative party.
Subsequent to his peerage, he became Baron Offord of Garvel, of Greenock in the County of Renfrew, and was appointed as a junior minister in the Scotland office.
He also served as Minister for Exports from 2023 until the general election in June 2024.
Previously, he was director of the Vote No Borders campaign during the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.
The group faced controversy after being compelled to withdraw a cinema advert which alleged that Scots would lose access to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London if they voted for independence.
The hospital issued a complaint regarding the message, clarifying it did not endorse the content and had not been consulted before its broadcast.
Lord Offord also stood as a Conservative list candidate for the Lothian region in the 2021 Holyrood election, finishing fifth and failing to secure a seat.
While Malcolm Offord may not be a household name, Reform’s Scottish branch will likely welcome his addition.
He’s held numerous UK government ministerial posts and was a sitting Conservative frontbencher in the House of Lords.
Aspiring to be a candidate in the upcoming Holyrood election, he brings both business acumen and political experience to the party.
During his address in Falkirk, he voiced concerns about the “monopolitics” of Labour and the Conservatives.
He appears to have lost faith in his former party.
Despite his recent affiliation with the Tories, the crowd readily welcomed him.
However, some of his former colleagues don’t seem too disappointed by his departure.
One Scottish Conservative insider described him as a “treacherous snake” in a message.
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