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Lord Malcolm Offord, formerly a 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 was the sitting Treasurer of the Scottish Conservatives and served on the Lords front bench from 2021 to 2024. Until his resignation Saturday, he was the Conservative spokesman in the Lords on energy matters.
At the rally, he stated 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.
Under legislation passed earlier this year, members of the House of Lords are disqualified from becoming members of the Scottish Parliament.
Reform currently holds one MSP seat at Holyrood, held by former Conservative Graham Simpson, who defected to the party in August.
Farage expressed his “delight” in welcoming Lord Offord to Reform, calling his defection “a brave and historic act.”
He added: “He will take Reform UK Scotland to a new level.”
A spokesperson for the Scottish Conservatives stated: “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 commented that he was not surprised to see a “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 described Reform as a “party of failed Conservatives playing political musical chairs.”
She stated: “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.”
Meanwhile, Patrick Harvie, Scottish Greens constitutional spokesman, argued: “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 made a life peer in 2021 under Boris Johnson.
He had previously donated almost £150,000 to the Conservative party.
Following 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 served as a minister of exports from 2023 until the general election in June 2024.
He previously served as director of the Vote No Borders campaign during the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.
The group attracted controversy after being forced to withdraw a cinema advert which claimed Scots would lose access to the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London in the event of a Yes vote.
The hospital complained about the message, saying it did not endorse the content and was not consulted prior to it being broadcast.
Lord Offord also stood as a Conservative list candidate for the Lothian region in the 2021 Holyrood election, but finished fifth and did not gain a seat.
While Malcolm Offord may not be a household name, Reform’s Scottish operation is likely to welcome his addition.
He has held several UK government ministerial positions and was a sitting Conservative frontbencher in the House of Lords.
With aspirations to be a candidate in the next Holyrood election, he brings both business and political experience to the party.
Speaking from the stage in Falkirk, he voiced his concerns about the “monopolitics” of Labour and the Conservatives.
He appears to have become disillusioned with his former party.
The crowd at the rally welcomed him warmly, despite his recent affiliation with the Conservative party.
However, some of his former colleagues may not be as disappointed by his departure.
One Scottish Conservative insider described him as a “treacherous snake” in a message.
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