Nigel Farage set to announce Reform’s leader in Scotland
Lord Offord is widely seen as the frontrunner for the role.
Nigel Farage will announce Reform UK’s Scottish leader at a press conference on Thursday.
The party has held off on appointing a leader until just months before the election in May, despite previous assurances from deputy leader Richard Tice one would not be selected until after votes were cast.
The frontrunner for the job is believed to be Lord Offord, the peer and former Tory Scotland Office minister who defected to the party in December.
In an interview earlier this month, he said he was “in it to win it” and hoped to become First Minister one day.
He also said there were other figures in contention, but refused to say who when pressed, adding that there were some who were “not known to the public”.
Other potential names are: Graham Simpson, the party’s only current MSP; or Thomas Kerr, a high profile Glasgow councillor who has been a key spokesman for the party north of the border. Both of them defected from the Tories.
The decision, ultimately, is in the hands of Mr Farage, given the internal structures of the party.
