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a millionaire conservative The donor whom Boris Johnson made his peer has fallen out with him Improvement Britain has given a big boost to Nigel Farage.
Lord Malcolm Offord He said he was separating from the Conservative Party Improvement and intends to stand for election scottish parliament Next year.
The former Tory minister was introduced by Mr Farage during a party rally Falkirk on Saturday. Announcing his defection he said that he believed the Scottish Conservatives had “abandoned” Scotland.
Mr Farage welcomed Lord Offord, saying “I think he will have a transformational impact on our party in Scotland”, describing the defection as “a brave and historic act”.
The former Scottish Conservative Party treasurer served as export minister in the Conservative government before Labor won the 2024 general election.
He confirmed that he would resign from the House of Lords and return to his peerage to campaign for a seat at Holyrood as “good old Malcolm Offord”.
Members of the House of Lords are disqualified from becoming members of scottish parliament Under legislation passed earlier this year. It is not possible to resign a life peerage, but a peer may resign his membership of the House of Lords.
Lord Offord branded the Scottish Conservative Party “unelectable” and said: “I am concerned about Scottish politics, very concerned about what happens in Scotland.
“And that’s why I’m leaving the Scottish Conservative Party, because I believe the Scottish Conservative Party has abandoned Scotland and, ladies and gentlemen, I can’t do that.”
Discussing his experiences with the Scottish Tories, the former minister said: “What I found, frankly, is a party that is regional, not national, narrow, not political, not timid, ambitious; a party that has no vision of governing Scotland with a centrist agenda.”
He said he would run a “positive campaign” with “hope, ambition and reform”.
During his speech to Reform members at the Macdonald Inchaira Hotel, Mr Farage repeated claims that one in three schoolchildren in Glasgow do not speak English as their first language. Asked about the journalists’ comments, Lord Offord said, “I think they are highlighting an issue that needs to be talked about.”
Asked whether the comments represented a “dog whistle”, he continued: “I don’t believe it’s a dog whistle, I think it’s a fact.”
Lord Offord, who was born in Greenock, is the latest in a series of Tory defections including Jonathan Gullis and Lia Nickey last week.
He has donated almost £150,000 to the Conservatives, and in September 2021 he was made a life peer by former Prime Minister Mr Johnson and given his first ministerial job.
Lord Offord previously stood unsuccessfully as the Conservative candidate to become MSP for the Lothian area in May 2021, before he was handed his equivalent position by Mr Johnson, leading to allegations of “rampant cronyism” by the SNP.
But Mr Johnson insisted he was a “man who has a huge amount to give” and predicted he would do a “very good job”.
Lord Offord previously ran the pro-union No Borders campaign during the 2014 Scottish independence referendum and is also the founder and chairman of Badenoch & Co, an Edinburgh-based “boutique investment” company.
A spokesman for the Scottish Tories said: “Any vote for reform next year would strengthen the SNP’s hold on power at Holyrood.
“Nigel Farage has made clear he has no objection to John Swinney remaining First Minister, his party stood pro-independence candidates in the last election, and he is still courting others who would break up Britain.
“The Scottish Conservatives, led by Russell Findlay, recognize that many people feel completely disconnected from politics.
“That’s why we will continue to focus relentlessly on promoting common sense Conservative policies to grow our economy and stand up for mainstream Scotland’s priorities.”
Scottish Labour’s deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: “This defection proves what we already know: the Reformers are no longer Tories, even in disguise, they are just Tories – the same Tories who broke the immigration system, collapsed the economy and left working-class Scots to pay the price.
“This is not change – it is the same failed politicians and failed ideas trying to divide our country.
“A vote for reform is a vote that helps keep the SNP in power and prevents the change that Scotland so desperately needs.
“Scotland needs a party that is focused on rebuilding our NHS and delivering real change for working people – not a party of failed Conservatives playing political musical chairs.”