Scottish Conservative peer defects to Reform UK

Former Conservative business and Scotland Office Minister Lord Malcolm Offord has defected to Reformation England.

It was introduced by Nigel Farage at a rally at the Macdonald Inchyra hotel in Falkirk on Saturday.

Lord Offord was Treasurer of the Scottish Conservatives and served in the Lords’ front bench from 2021 to 2024.

He told the rally he planned to stand down from the Lords and campaign as a Reform candidate in the 2026 Holyrood election.

Announcing his departure, Lord Offord accused the Conservatives of “giving up” on Scotland.

He described the party as “not political but parochial” and described them as a “party without vision”.

“I’m worried about Scottish politics, I’m very worried about what’s going on in Scotland,” he said.

“That’s why I’m leaving the Scottish Conservative Party, because I believe the Scottish Conservative Party has given up on Scotland and, ladies and gentlemen, I can’t do that.”

He added: “From today, day and night for the next five months, I will campaign tirelessly with all of you for two goals.

“The first aim is to remove this rotten SNP government after 18 years, and the second is to present a positive vision for Scotland within the UK, making Scotland a prosperous, proud, healthy and happy country.”

It is not possible to renounce the peerage for life, but peers can resign as members of the House of Lords.

Members of the House of Lords have been banned from becoming members of the Scottish Parliament under legislation passed earlier this year.

Reformation has an MSP at Holyrood; Former Conservative Graham Simpson He took refuge in the party in August.

Farage said he was “delighted” to welcome Lord Offord to Reform, describing his departure as a “brave and historic act”.

He added: “Reformation Scotland will take the UK to a new level.”

Scottish Labor deputy leader Jackie Baillie described Reform as “the party of failed Tories sitting in political seats”.

He said: “This departure proves what we already knew: Reform are no longer even Tories in disguise, they are just Tories – the same Tories who broke the immigration system, crashed the economy and left working Scots paying the price.

“This is not change; it’s the same failed politicians and failed ideas trying to divide our country.”

Lord Offord, who founded the investment company Badenoch and Co, became a life partner in 2021 under Boris Johnson’s presidency.

He had previously donated almost £150,000 to the Conservative party.

Following his magistracy, he became Baron Offord of Garvel, of Greenock in the County of Renfrew, and was appointed assistant minister in the Scottish office.

He also served as export minister from 2023 until the general elections in June 2024.

He was previously director of the No Borders campaign during the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.

Group He sparked controversy after being forced to withdraw a cinema advert He claimed that if there was a Yes vote, Scots would lose access to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.

The hospital complained about the message, saying it did not approve of the content and was not consulted before it was published.

Lord Offord was also the Conservative list candidate for the Lothian region in the 2021 Holyrood election but came fifth and failed to win a seat.

Malcolm Offord isn’t a household name, but Reform’s Scottish operation will be delighted to have him on board.

He held various ministerial positions in the UK government and was a leading figure in the Conservative Party in the House of Lords.

He wants to stand at the next Holyrood election. And he will bring both business and political experience to the party.

Taking to the stage in Falkirk, he complained about the “monopolitics” of Labor and the Conservatives.

He seems to have lost his love for his old party.

The crowd here was happy to welcome him despite his recent Conservative background.

However, some of his former colleagues were not too sad to see him go.

Someone from the Scottish Conservative Party texted me to say he was a “traitorous snake”.

Ah.