It began in a hotel in Kirkcaldy, a day for Reform UK leader Nigel Farage to announce his Scottish leader. Within minutes of his opening speech, he was alerted to developing news in London. Former Tory leadership candidate Robert Jenrick, was rumoured to be defecting to his party.
For most of the Q&A that followed his unveiling of Malcolm Offord as his Scottish standard bearer Mr Farage was forced to deflect questions about Mr Jenrick’s destination, insisting there was no plan to announce his defection.
Within hours, however, the pair were holding a press conference in London to confirm that he was the latest recruit from the diminishing Tory batallions.
Mr Farage insisted there was no certainty that Mr Jenrick was going to join Reform UK “today, tomorrow or next week” and that it was a 60/40 chance he would have joined.
“You never know until the deal is signed,” he said, adding that Tory leader Kemi Badenoch had “jumped the gun”.
Ms Badenoch sacked Mr Jenrick from his shadow justice role after a video emerged apparently revealing his plans to leave the party “in a way designed to be as damaging as possible”.
Mr Jenrick told the press conference in London that “Britain is broken” and said the “two main parties” are no longer fit to fix it.
Earlier in Kirkcaldy, Mr Farage appeared to be taken by surprise as news emerged of Mr Jenrick’s sacking.
He accused Ms Badenoch of panicking but admitted that he saw Mr Jenrick “resigning from the Conservative party as a big tick”. He said that he had held talks with him and said he would “give him a ring this afternoon”, adding “I might even buy him a pint.”
Despite being asked the same question about Mr Jenrick by a number of journalists, he remained composed and managed to inject some humour into what was no laughing matter for the Tory leader, facing her second defection in a week.
Mr Farage rejected suggestions that Reform was now a party of ex-Tories who had been rejected by the electorate. He said he did not intend to inherit the “psychodrama” of infighting among the Tories and teased his audience by saying he looked forward to welcoming defectors from Labour.
“We are not Tories 2.0,” he said. “I have been talking to lots of people. We welcome anyone from any party,” he said. “We are replacing the Conservative party across the UK as the main opposition to Labour.”
Ms Badenoch was also in Scotland, meeting business leaders and visiting the Johnnie Walker facility in central Edinburgh. Despite the speculation around Mr Jenrick and a new poll showing the party struggling in Scotland, she denied it had been a “bad day” for the Tories. However, she also adopted Mr Farage’s phrase to describe the situation in her own party.
“The public are sick of psychodrama and politicians who are doing this for personal ambition,” she told journalists in the Bothy Room.
“I want people to know what kind of leader I am and I am a kind of leader that is focused on the problems of the country, not on personal ambition.
“Getting people out who do not believe in the party is a good thing,” she said, insisting that “the Conservatives are the only credible alternative.
Later she said: “All I would say to Nigel is Rob’s not my problem any more — he’s your problem.”
The Survation poll found 34% of voters planned to back the SNP in constituencies, with Reform on 19% and Labour on 16%. If repeated on 7 May, it would give the SNP 61 seats, four short of a majority, with Labour and Reform tied on 18 each. The Tories would have just 12 seats, the Lib Dems 11 and the Greens 9.
Reform vetting and renewables
Mr Farage said he would crack down on vetting of candidates for the Scottish elections, expressing his anger over the damage caused by a process he described as “piss poor”.
He said: “Sorry for being crude, but after all the hard work I have put into professionalising this party I am enormously angry about … crises through no fault of my own.
“We are making sure candidates are fit and proper people.” He said there would be a conference in March to unveil candidates.
Mr Farage was equally animated about the renewables sector, saying the net zero policy was “an act of self-harm”.
He said that for Sir Jim Ratcliffe, owner of chemicals firm Ineos which co-owned the now-closed Grangemouth refinery, the biggest cost is energy. “So, no wonder he cannot make it [Grangemouth] work.”
He damned yesterday’s wind farm auction for guaranteeing the strike price for 20 years and said “the more we rely on renewables the more our energy prices will rise. It is an act of stupidity.”
He said the biggest beneficiary of the auction was a German company [RWE] and turbines will be manufactured by the Chinese.
“Starmer is deluded. Miliband has adopted a new religion,” he said.
Mr Farage declared that on immigration the party would “put British workers first” and said some of the biggest critics of illegal immigration are those who have arrived legally.
“They wonder why they went through the hoops [of applying for legal entry] and now see themselves further down the [welfare and housing] queue.”
Mr Offord, whose appointment was overshadowed by the news about Mr Jenrick, dismissed continued claims that Reform UK was a racist party and said it will run a “positive campaign” in Scotland.
Asked about Reform’s policies for Scotland, he said: “We will look at tax and spend, we will look at welfare, we need to get the right balance between work and welfare. We are to look at all that.”
One journalist asked if being a millionaire meant he was out of touch with the ordindary voters. Mr Farage turned to him and said: “You are a dreadful man, you’ve been successful, how awful. Why don’t we get more failures like Rachel Reeves running the country.”
He said Mr Offord was a self-made man and he wanted young people to see him as a role model.
“The United States makes successful people into heroes. Here, we make them into villains,” he said.
One throwaway comment overlooked in the stramash over defections, was Mr Farage edging his bets on President Trump’s intentions towards Greenland.
There would be no invasion, he said. “It will end up as an economic partnership.”
- Sir Keir Starmer was also in Scotland today but once again the Labour Party did not invite Daily Business to meet him, nor issue a press release about his visit, and therefore we have not reported it.
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