Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has announced a surprise defection from the Conservatives while speaking in Scotland.

Lord Offord of Garvel became the first member of the House of Lords to join Reform as he announced his departure from the Conservative Party.

The shock announcement was made while Mr Farage was addressing supporters in Falkirk, Scotland.

Malcolm Offord, from Greenock in the County of Renfrewshire, became a life peer in 2021.

He brings extensive political experience to Reform, having served as Minister of State for Scotland between 2021 and 2024.

Lord Offord was also Minister of State for Exports between 2023 and 2024 and was Treasurer of the Scottish Conservatives.

Welcoming the former Tory peer, Mr Farage said: “I am delighted to welcome Malcolm to Reform.

“This is a brave and historic act. He will take Reform UK Scotland to a new level,” he declared amid raucous applause.

Nigel Farage welcomed the newest Scottish addition to his party ranks

Lord Offord said: “I am delighted to join Reform UK Scotland. We have an important election coming up in May next year.”

He continued: “Scotland is crying out for a centre-right narrative to make the country prosperous once again.

“Scotland needs Reform and Reform is coming to Scotland,” the peer said to cheers in the room.

Speaking to the room of supporters, Lord Offord announced his plans to stand down from the Lords and campaign as a candidate for Reform in the 2026 Holyrood elections.

The life peer said his ‘first objective is to remove this rotten SNP government after 18 years’

“From today, for the next five months, day and night, I shall be campaigning with all of you tirelessly for two objectives,” he said.

Issuing a rallying cry to the room, he declared: “The first objective is to remove this rotten SNP government after 18 years.

“The second is to present a positive vision for Scotland inside the UK, to restore Scotland to being a prosperous, proud, healthy and happy country,” Lord Offord said.

The Greenock-born businessman was made a life peer in 2021 by then prime minister Boris Johnson and served as a minister of exports from 2023 until the general election in June 2024. He had previously donated nearly £150,000 to the party.

‘This is a brave and historic act. He will take Reform UK Scotland to a new level,’ the Reform UK leader declared

Following his peerage, he was made Baron Offord of Garvel.

He becomes Reform’s latest high-profile defection in Scotland.

The party previously announced the defection of Scottish Tory MSP Graham Simpson, who gave a speech at the Falkirk rally, as well as a host of councillors around the country.

Lord Offord criticised his old for party for having “given up on Scotland”.

Discussing his experiences with the Scottish Tories, the former minister said: “What I found, quite candidly, is a party which is regional not national, parochial not political, timid not ambitious; a party without a vision of how to govern Scotland with a right-of-centre agenda.”

He previously stood for Holyrood in 2021 in the Lothian region but finished fifth.