I am the ultimate leader says Farage, as Offord takes top job in Scotland

Nigel Farage has said he is the “ultimate leader” of Reform UK and can overrule the newly appointed Scottish boss Malcolm Offord.

The former Tory peer was announced on Thursday as the head of the party north of the border at a press conference in Fife.

But within minutes of the announcement, Mr Farage signalled that he could overrule his new appointment on policies ahead of May’s election, but told journalists there was unlikely to be much of a difference of opinion between the two.

“I am the leader of the party, I have quite a lot of power,” Mr Farage said when asked if he could kick out policies he does not like.

“I’m held to account by my board, if they think I’ve gone over the top then they will tell me so and act and if they wanted to, with the support of branches, they could remove me.

“But when it comes to day-to-day operations of this still start-up party, I regard myself as a political entrepreneur, I regard myself as the chief executive officer of what is effectively a company that we’re growing from a small to a medium to a big company and, yes, I have a very high degree of operational control and final decision-making.

“But do I think Malcolm and the team are going to come up with stuff that I disagree with? No.

“Why? Because we’ve talked about most of this already.

“I’m entirely confident that process will be smooth.”

The party will unveil its slate of candidates in the first week of March at its pre-election conference, Mr Farage said, with party policies to be revealed in the weeks running up to the May 7 poll.

Speaking to journalists after the press conference, Mr Offord – who signed a letter to retire from the House of Lords at the event, which is due to come into effect on January 30 – said Mr Farage did not undermine his ability to lead in Scotland.

“He’s actually come out and honestly said what we know really happens in the Labour Party, what really happens in the Conservative Party, he’s just come out and said it and honesty is always the best approach,” the former Tory minister said.

Mr Offord went on to say he had a mandate to produce a manifesto, despite not having been elected by the party’s purported 12,000 members in Scotland.

“As far the manifesto for Scotland is concerned, it is going to be done here for Reform Scotland,” he said.

Mr Offord’s appointment as Reform UK’s Scottish leader comes just over a month after he defected from the Tories.

He served as a Scotland Office minister and business minister in the previous Conservative administration at Westminster, but Thursday’s press conference saw him sign the paperwork to end his time in the House of Lords.

Mr Farage said that has seen “Lord Offord of Garvel become Malcolm from Greenock”.

He said his party’s new Scottish leader had made a “brave and principled move” by giving up his peerage, adding: “After all, the House of Lords is a club for life, subsidised lunch, sleep on the benches all afternoon.”

He said Mr Offord had “given it all up” to stand for Reform in May.

Mr Offord said: “It’s a great honour to be named today as the new leader of Reform UK Scotland.

“I shall be campaigning hard between now and May 7, to communicate a positive vision of how we can all work together to make Scotland the most successful part of the UK in the next 10 years.

“We represent ordinary, decent, hard-working Scots who are fed up with mid-table mediocrity in Holyrood. Which is why we will be fielding Reform candidates in all 73 constituencies with one sole objective – to get Scotland back to the top of the table.

“This is an exciting time for Scotland. The election in May allows Scots to finally get rid of this rotten SNP Government who have had plenty of time to deliver prosperity for Scotland and have failed.”