Reform defector denies 'backstabbing' as he distances himself from Farage's Glasgow comments
Lord Offord has claimed Reform “have no issue” with Glasgow schoolchildren Nigel Farage used to stoke fears over immigrants “culturally smashing” the city.
A millionaire defector to Reform UK has attempted to soften Nigel Farage’s controversial Glasgow diversity comments as he hit out at his former Tory colleagues for being stuck in a “doom loop” on opposing independence.
Lord Malcolm Offord, who was given a Tory life peerage after donating £150,000 to the Conservative party, was unveiled by Mr Farage as defecting to Reform at a rally near Falkirk on Saturday.
Lord Offord, who is poised to hand back his peerage and leave the House of Lords over his defection, has received an angry response from former Scottish Conservative colleagues.
Tory MSP Stephen Kerr accused Lord Offord of “knifing his colleagues in the back” and questioning his “morals and principles”.
The former Conservative minister confirmed he did not tell Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay in advance about his defection, despite being the party’s treasurer when he appeared on stage with Mr Farage.
Speaking to the BBC, Lord Offord, said: “I don’t think you can call me standing up in front of 750 people in Falkirk as stabbing people in the back when I fronted up pretty seriously.
“The protocol, was that we had to do this in a very measured way.”
He added: “Frankly, the Scottish Conservatives don't have a message for a vision to govern Scotland. I think they're content to be in opposition, and they are very much stuck in a doom loop on just the independence question.
“People in Scotland are fed up talking about the independence question.”
Justifying not telling Mr Findlay he was defecting, Lord Offord said the courtesy “was not advisable…in the modern world”.
Asked if he will donate to Reform as he has done to the Tories previously, Lord Offord said: “Well, I think I'm giving quite a lot of my time and personal energy to Reform UK.“
Reform has not set out any devolved policy positions other than opposing net zero, with a focus on anti-immigration and anti-diversity - despite the Holyrood election taking place in five months’ time.
In the lead-up to his visit, Mr Farage caused a row over diversity in Glasgow, using a social media video to claim that in the city “one in three pupils has English as a second language”, suggesting that immigrants were “culturally smashing” Glasgow. Mr Farage did not take questions from Scottish journalists during his rally near Falkirk.
READ MORE: Keir Starmer attacks 'toxic, divisive disgrace' Nigel Farage as PM blasts Reform's 'racist policies'
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and First Minister John Swinney heavily criticised the comments and Mr Farage. But Lord Offord has attempted to soften and distance himself from the controversial remarks, claiming his new party leader was “giving the facts”.
He added: “The facts are that there is a statistic that we all probably didn't know. It's quite a shocking stat about the number of children that don't have English as a first language. It’s just a number.”
Despite Mr Farage claiming the proportion of schoolchildren who don’t speak English as a first language was “culturally smashing” Glasgow, Lord Offord insisted that “we have no issue with these children”.
He added: “Any children here at school in Glasgow, we hope they get well educated, have Scottish accents, get Scottish values and play the Scottish football team. That's fine.
“The issue is that what he's highlighting is this is happening faster and quicker than any moment we’ve had. We have to assimilate to make a cohesive community, we have to assimilate everybody.”
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