Reform UK gains its first peer after Conservative party defection | Reform UK

Reform England has won its first opponent since leaving the Conservative Party.

Malcolm Offord was announced as Reform UK’s newest member by party leader Nigel Farage during a rally in Falkirk on Saturday.

The businessman served as a Scottish Office minister in the last government and until recently was treasurer of the Scottish Conservatives. Offord confirmed his intention to stand for Reform UK in next May’s Holyrood election.

Farage said he was “delighted” to invite Offord to the party. He called his peer’s departure a “brave and historic act.”

In his speech, Offord said he wanted Scotland to be “a prosperous, happy, healthy country”. He added that he would campaign to “dismantle this rotten SNP government after 18 years”.

Born in Greenock, Renfrewshire, Offord was made his wife for life by former prime minister Boris Johnson in 2021. He has previously donated around £150,000 to the Conservatives.

More to follow…