Reform’s Scottish leader called ‘tone deaf’ after boasting about his houses, cars and yachts
The leader of Reform UK in Scotland, Malcolm Offord, has been dismissed as “tone deaf” and “entitled” after he boasted in a televised election debate about the number of cars, houses and boats he owned.Responding to the row on Wednesday morning, the SNP leader, John Swinney, proposed that all party leaders should publish their tax returns before the election on 7 May.Offord, a multimillionaire financier and former Conservative life peer who defected to Reform and was announced as the party’s first Scottish leader in January, told the STV debate on Tuesday evening: “I went to London 40 years ago with £2,000 of debt.“Full of ambition, I worked hard and I was successful.Today, I own six houses, five cars and six boats.
In a 40-year business career I’ve employed hundreds of thousands of people and paid £45m in tax.”Offord made the remarks during a section of the programme where the six party leaders questioned one another.He asked the co-leader of the Scottish Greens, Ross Greer: “In your Scotland, do you want more people like me, or fewer people like me?”Greer replied: “Fewer people like you,” adding: “I’m glad you’ve finally admitted how many homes you have, Lord Offord.”Offord, a yachting enthusiast who also collects classic cars and recently bought a mansion on the banks of Loch Lomond for £1.6m without a mortgage, has previously refused to say how wealthy he is, claiming that is a private matter.
If he is elected to Holyrood, Offord will have to produce a detailed list of any shareholdings and properties he owns in his register of interest.Property records indicate his other homes in the UK include a flat in a prosperous district of north Edinburgh, one in his home town of Greenock and a flat in Knightsbridge, London.Greer continued: “I think at this point in the debate, it’s worth pointing out there are three times as many holiday homes and empty properties in this country as there are homeless children.”He told Offord: “You don’t need six homes, you don’t even need two homes, everyone just needs a home to live in.“Surely if we’re to tackle the housing emergency, the super super-rich elite individuals like you should be giving up some of those homes so people who desperately need a roof over their head actually have somewhere to live.
”Later in the debate, the final televised clash of the campaign ahead of the election, the Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, called Offord “entitled”.Sarwar said: “The idea that he will stand up for working people is for the birds.”Speaking to media at a campaign event in Edinburgh, Swinney said: “I thought it was a revelation that was tone deaf.Lord Offord was essentially bragging about his wealth and I don’t think that is the way to engage with voters.”Swinney indicated he would be “very happy” to publish his own tax return, and see other party leaders do so before 7 May.
Offord drew criticism from opponents earlier in the campaign for missing a weekend’s campaigning to sail his yacht Braveheart in a regatta race in the Channel.At the time, Offord laughed off the criticism, saying: “I’m trying to take this seriously, I mean heaven forbid a man has a hobby, right?”Stella Rooney, spokesperson for the tenants’ union Living Rent, said: “When the majority of people are struggling to afford rent or mortgage costs or are stuck in temporary accommodation, it is hard to believe that anyone owning multiple homes would understand anything about the housing crisis let alone have any sort of plan to fix it.”Anti-poverty and housing campaigners in Scotland privately expressed frustration that they were not able to respond directly to the remarks because of strict pre-election rules.On a recent BBC Scotcast podcast, Chris Birt, the Scotland director of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, spoke about the importance of sharing wealth in Scotland, saying: “It’s not a sustainable position where people can have multiple homes where there are people in our country who have none.”
Starmer sees off major Labour rebellion over call for Mandelson inquiry
Keir Starmer has seen off a major Labour rebellion over a bid to force a parliamentary investigation into his appointment of Peter Mandelson, but many of his own MPs warned he was running out of political capital.After Downing Street deployed its full weight to force Labour MPs to block a referral to the privileges committee over the scandal, some angrily accused Starmer of leaving them facing accusations of a “cover-up”.Previously loyal MPs warned the prime minister to tread carefully, particularly after what are expected to be a damaging set of election results for Labour next week.“He’s in the last-chance saloon and the last few days haven’t improved his prospects of survival,” one minister said, while another added: “Keir only has so much credit in the bank with the backbenches now, so he needs to spend it wisely.”On a day of high jeopardy on Tuesday, Starmer’s former chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, and the Foreign Office’s former permanent secretary, Sir Philip Barton, prompted yet more questions over how much pressure had been put on officials to accelerate Mandelson’s posting to Washington
Starmer buys some time – but he could be running out of political capital
Keir Starmer deployed the entire Labour machine – cabinet ministers, whips, even Gordon Brown – to shore up his support ahead of what was set to be a critical day for his premiership on Tuesday. And it worked.Labour MPs trooped dutifully through the voting lobbies to block Conservative attempts to refer him to the privileges committee – a process that would have dragged out the Peter Mandelson row and been a painful reminder of Starmer’s original sin of appointing the former Labour spin doctor and minister as his man in Washington.It is not the first time the prime minister’s senior team has come to his rescue. In February, his cabinet rallied round to see off an immediate challenge to his position from Anas Sarwar, Labour’s leader in Scotland
No 10 dismisses Reeves’s reported plan for freeze on private rents
Downing Street has dismissed the idea of a freeze on private sector rents even as Rachel Reeves left the door open to such a move, after the Guardian revealed the chancellor has been considering it as an option to cut the cost of living.A No 10 spokesperson said on Tuesday that freezing private sector rents was “not the approach we will be taking” after sources told the Guardian it was Reeves’s preferred solution for dealing with a spike in housing costs in the wake of the Iran war.They added: “We have no plans to implement this. Our focus remains on cutting bills and backing renters alongside lower energy prices.”Reeves, however, failed to rule out the idea when asked about it in the Commons, telling the Labour MP Yuan Yang: “I will do everything in my power and use every lever we have to bear down on the cost of living, including for people in the private rented sector
UK politics: Starmer avoids privileges committee inquiry into vetting of Peter Mandelson – as it happened
MPs voted 335-223 against the motion, meaning the government won by a majority of 112.Keir Starmer saw off an opposition bid to refer him to a standards committee over Peter Mandelson’s appointment. The government won the vote by 335 votes to 223, a majority of 112.Peers have ended their stand-off with MPs over plans to curb social media for under-16s after the government agreed to introduce “age or functionality restrictions”.After the Guardian’s story that the Treasury is considering imposing a one-year rent freeze on private sector homes to deal with the impact of the Iran war on household budgets, the PM’s spokesperson said: “We have no plans to implement this
Drop the ‘toxic hot potato’: what Barton and McSweeney really revealed about the Mandelson scandal
The latest two witnesses to testify to parliament over Peter Mandelson’s appointment had plenty to offer headline writers. “A toxic hot potato” was how Philip Barton, the former top civil servant in the Foreign Office, described Mandelson’s links with Jeffrey Epstein, a view he would have shared with Downing Street if only he had been asked.“A knife through my soul” was how Morgan McSweeney, the prime minister’s former chief adviser, described the moment he found out the true nature of Mandelson’s relationship with the convicted child sex offender.But the most interesting parts of both men’s evidence on Tuesday were those that addressed the question at the core of the scandal: was the Foreign Office’s decision to grant Mandelson security clearance against the advice of the vetting agency influenced by pressure from Downing Street?Both Barton and McSweeney agreed there was pressure put on the department over Mandelson’s security vetting. Both, however, maintained it had no bearing on the decision in late January 2025 to grant Mandelson clearance
Shabana Mahmood’s frustration with immigration debate is understandable | Letter
Zoe Williams criticises Shabana Mahmood’s recent language as showing “contempt for the values of her own party”, but I disagree (Shabana Mahmood’s expletive was shocking. But not for the reason you think, 23 April). In today’s polarised climate, too many on the progressive side treat any divergence on issues like immigration as indistinguishable from Reform UK. That simply isn’t true.Mahmood’s language may have been coarse, but her frustration is understandable
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