I want to be first minister, says potential Reform leader in Scotland

The likely leader of Reform UK in Scotland has said he wants to be first minister.

Lord Malcolm Offord, who is in the running for the top job in Nigel Farage’s party north of the border, has said he is “in it to win it”, when speaking to BBC Radio Scotland on Thursday.

Mr Farage said on Wednesday he will name a leader next Thursday at an Edinburgh press conference, with Lord Offord – who defected from the Conservatives late last year – saying he is not the only member in the frame to take charge.

Asked whether it was his ambition to be Scotland’s first minister, he said: “Yes, I mean, you’ve got to be in it to win it.”

Some polls ahead of May’s Holyrood election have put Reform UK in second place behind the SNP, pushing Labour to third.

Speaking on Thursday, Lord Offord said it was between his party and John Swinney’s in May.

“As to whether we can win, of course, that would be an astonishing result to come from nowhere to that, but what is clear is that we do have the momentum here,” he said.

“We do have the momentum and this is a two-horse race between Reform and the SNP.”

He was asked whether Scotland’s only Reform MSP, Graham Simpson, who defected from the Tories in August 2025, and Thomas Kerr, Reform councillor for Shettleston in Glasgow, were also in the running.

Lord Offord told the programme: “I’m not going to divulge the names but, obviously, you’ve mentioned some of them, but there’s other names that are not known to the public, but that right now is an internal process.

“My name is in the hat. It’s not the only name in the hat and therefore we have to wait until next week to have confirmation of that.”

The Scottish financier previously served as a Scotland Office minister during the last Conservative government and was the Scottish Tories’ treasurer at the time of his defection.

Lord Offord also said he has written to the clerk of the UK Parliament to resign as a Lord and is waiting for that to be accepted.

He said that Reform currently has 12,500 members in Scotland and described it as a “movement which is gathering pace”.

Asked how it differs from the Scottish Conservatives, he said: “The difference is that the Scottish Conservatives had 10 years in opposition and, in that 10 years, we really had pretty incompetent government from the SNP, 10 years of incompetence and failure.

“The opposition party’s job is to land a blow on the government of the day and they haven’t done that.

“It’s also their job to create a narrative and a vision for the people of Scotland that they could say that they could replace it. And they haven’t done that.

“So, in that vacuum has come Reform, because the public, the people of Scotland, want an alternative vision for Scotland.”

The Scottish Conservatives and SNP have been contacted for comment.