On December 6, 2025, Scotland’s turbulent political landscape was shaken by the high-profile defection of Lord Malcolm Offord, a millionaire businessman, former Conservative minister, and once a major donor to the Tory party. Lord Offord, who was made a life peer by Boris Johnson in 2021 and previously served as Treasurer of the Scottish Conservatives, announced at a raucous Reform UK rally in Falkirk that he was leaving the Conservatives for Nigel Farage’s insurgent party. The move, hailed by Farage as “a brave and historic act,” is being viewed as a significant boost for Reform UK’s ambitions north of the border—and a stinging rebuke to the Scottish Conservatives.
Lord Offord’s decision to switch allegiance was unveiled to supporters at the Macdonald Inchyra Hotel, where Farage introduced him to a crowd eager for political disruption. The timing was deliberate: Scotland’s Holyrood elections loom in May 2026, and Reform UK is seeking to capitalize on growing discontent with both the long-ruling Scottish National Party (SNP) and the established unionist parties. Offord, who previously donated nearly £150,000 to the Conservatives, did not mince words in his parting shot. “I’m concerned for Scottish politics, very concerned about what happens in Scotland,” he told the rally, as reported by BBC Scotland. “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.”
Offord’s critique of his former party was scathing. He described the Conservatives as “parochial, not political, timid not ambitious; a party without a vision of how to govern Scotland with a right-of-centre agenda.” According to The Independent, he further branded the Scottish Tories as “unelectable” and said his new mission was to run a “positive campaign” with “hope, ambition, and reform.” He pledged to campaign “day and night” over the next five months 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.”
Lord Offord’s defection is not merely symbolic. He announced he would resign from his seat in the House of Lords—something permitted under new legislation passed earlier in 2025, which also disqualifies peers from sitting in the Scottish Parliament. Offord, who previously served as a junior minister in the Scotland Office and as an exports minister until Labour’s general election victory in June 2024, intends to run as a Reform UK candidate for Holyrood next year. “Scotland needs Reform and Reform is coming to Scotland,” he declared, according to Sky News.
Nigel Farage, the ever-controversial leader of Reform UK, was quick to capitalize on the moment. “He will take Reform UK Scotland to a new level,” Farage told supporters, describing Offord’s move as both “brave” and “historic.” Farage has been dogged by allegations of racism stemming from his school days—allegations he denies—but his party’s anti-immigration rhetoric and populist messaging continue to attract disaffected voters from both the right and left. At the rally, Farage repeated claims that “one in three schoolchildren in Glasgow do not speak English as their first language,” a statement Offord defended when pressed by reporters. “I think he’s highlighting an issue which needs to be talked about,” Offord said, adding, “I don’t believe it’s a dog whistle, I think it’s a fact.”
Offord is just the latest in a string of Tory defections to Reform UK, following the likes of Graham Simpson—now Reform’s sole MSP at Holyrood—and former Conservative MPs Jonathan Gullis and Lia Nici. The party’s Scottish operation, once considered a sideshow, now boasts a former government minister with deep business and political experience. Offord, who founded the investment firm Badenoch and Co., also ran the pro-union No Borders campaign during the 2014 independence referendum, a group that faced controversy after airing a disputed cinema advert about access to London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital in the event of Scottish independence.
The reaction from Offord’s former colleagues was swift and, in some cases, brutal. “Any vote for Reform next year will only tighten the SNP’s grip on power at Holyrood,” a Scottish Conservative spokesperson told The Independent, accusing Farage of courting pro-independence candidates and suggesting Reform could inadvertently help the very party it claims to oppose. The spokesperson added, “The Scottish Conservatives, under Russell Findlay’s leadership, recognise that many people feel completely disconnected from politics. That is why we will continue to relentlessly focus on promoting commonsense Conservative policies to grow our economy and stand up for the priorities of mainstream Scotland.”
Scottish Labour’s deputy leader Jackie Baillie was even more scathing, telling BBC Scotland News, “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.” Baillie argued that a vote for Reform would only serve to keep the SNP in power, blocking the change Scotland “desperately needs.”
The Scottish Greens, too, weighed in. Patrick Harvie, the party’s constitutional spokesman, dismissed Reform as “the party of the super rich,” asserting, “They have no interest in improving the lives of ordinary people and families.” Meanwhile, SNP MP Stephen Gethins told BBC Scotland News he was unsurprised by what he called a “convergence between the Conservatives and Reform,” promising the SNP would take on Farage’s party at the next election. “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,” he said.
Lord Offord’s career is a study in contrasts. Not a household name, he’s nonetheless held multiple government posts, including as a junior minister in the Scotland Office and as a minister of exports. He stood unsuccessfully as a Conservative candidate for the Lothian region in 2021, and his peerage—awarded by Boris Johnson—sparked accusations of cronyism from political opponents. Johnson, for his part, defended Offord as “a guy who has a huge amount to offer” and predicted he would excel in public service.
With his defection, Offord brings not only a high-profile name and business acumen to Reform UK, but also a fresh jolt of momentum to a party eager to shake up Scotland’s political status quo. Whether his move will fracture the unionist vote and inadvertently strengthen the SNP, as critics warn, or truly “take Reform UK Scotland to a new level,” as Farage hopes, remains to be seen. For now, Scottish politics is bracing for a campaign season marked by shifting allegiances and no shortage of strong opinions.
