Malcolm Offord
Conservative life peer WHO leads Reform UK's new 17-MSP group in the Scottish Parliament.
On 22 September 2026, an amendment tabled in Malcolm Offord's name to John Swinney's right-to-decide motion was never moved, and Reform UK's 17 MSPs voted in none of the five divisions as the motion passed 84 to 18.
Last refreshed: 7 October 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Can a life peer with no Holyrood experience lead Scotland's first hard-right parliamentary group?
Timeline for Malcolm Offord
Mentioned in: Marra's MSPs vote for right to decide
UK Local Elections 2026led the Reform Scotland group as the first Reform caucus in Holyrood
UK Local Elections 2026: Reform enters Holyrood on 17 MSPsBackground
Malcolm Offord, Baron Offord of Garvel, leads Reform UK's group in the Scottish Parliament. Reform won 17 seats on 7 May 2026, its first Holyrood representation, and Offord, WHO led the Reform Scotland campaign, heads the group.
He was created a Conservative life peer in 2021 and served as a parliamentary under-secretary at the Scotland Office under Boris Johnson and then Rishi Sunak. He defected to Reform UK during the 2026 campaign. Before politics he worked in private equity and asset management.
His position is unusual: a member of The House of Lords leading a group at Holyrood. On the autumn's main constitutional vote, on 22 September, the amendment tabled in his name was not moved and his MSPs did not vote.
Offord's group sat out the vote
On 22 September, Holyrood debated Swinney's motion asserting Scotland's right to choose its own constitutional future. Offord's amendment was spoken to but never moved, and the 17 Reform UK MSPs he leads took part in none of the five divisions.
The other parties all voted. Scottish Labour, under its new leader Michael Marra, wrote a child-poverty amendment into the text, which passed 91 to 12. The amended motion was carried by 84 votes to 18; the SNP, Labour and The Greens supported it, and the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats opposed it. Offord's group, level with Labour as joint second-largest at Holyrood, therefore left no recorded vote on the motion.
Offord leads Reform's first Holyrood group
On 7 May, Reform UK entered the Scottish Parliament for the first time with 17 of 129 seats, tying Scottish Labour and finishing ahead of the Scottish Conservatives on 12. Offord, a Conservative life peer WHO defected to Reform during the campaign, led the Reform Scotland campaign and heads the new group.
The result fell five seats short of the 22 projected by More in Common's model. Group size still matters at Holyrood: First Minister's Questions allocations, opposition debate days and committee chairs follow it, which puts Russell Findlay's Scottish Conservatives behind Offord's group in the queue.