Millionaire Tory donor Malcolm Offord defects to Reform UK in boost to Nigel Farage
Former Tory minister defects to Reform UK
- Lord Malcolm Offord, a Conservative peer and former exports minister, has defected to Reform UK, announcing his intention to stand for the Scottish Parliament next year.
- He said he would resign from the House of Lords and return his peerage, as members of the Lords are disqualified from becoming Members of the Scottish Parliament.
- Offord criticised the Scottish Conservative Party, calling it “unelectable” and accusing it of having “given up” on Scotland, lacking vision and ambition.
- Reform UK leader Nigel Farage welcomed Offord, predicting he would have a ”transformative effect” on the party in Scotland.
- Offord, who previously donated over £150,000 to the Conservatives and was made a life peer by Boris Johnson, is the latest in a series of Tory defections.