Craig Smith

1/ Malcolm Offord will almost certainly become a Scottish MSP on Thursday. Nigel Farage put him top of the Reform list. He didn't have to win a single vote. Here's what Scottish voters deserve to know before they go to the polls. 2/ In December 2025, Offord told the Sunday Mail he had not donated to Reform UK. In January 2026, Farage appointed him Scottish leader. This morning the Sunday Mail reports he has since admitted making a donation, described only as a "small amount." He won't say how much. He won't say when it was agreed. 3/ At the STV leaders' debate he told viewers: "In a 40-year business career, I've employed hundreds of thousands of people." Companies House records for his firm Badenoch & Co show it employed three people in 2020 and four in 2021, his final two years before entering politics. 4/ Before joining Reform, Offord was a director of Peleus Property Management Limited, a residential property fund incorporated August 2017, registered at 26 Charlotte Square, Edinburgh. It bought Scottish residential stock, refurbished it, then sold or rented it. He resigned as director around 2021. 5/ Peleus was dissolved 12 November 2024. Offord's position, in response to our right of reply: six properties, all in his own name, sold on the open market before dissolution. We cannot independently verify the disposal route. That is noted. 6/ What we can verify: A man about to enter the Scottish Parliament ran a residential property fund operating in the Scottish private rented sector, then dissolved it weeks before joining the party making housing a central election issue. 7/ Reform UK did not respond to our right of reply on Peleus. Offord did not respond to questions about his employment claims. He has not released his tax returns to verify the £45m claim. He did respond on Peleus properties, his response is reported in full above. 8/ Thursday is four days away. Voters in West Scotland will decide whether that is enough information to trust Malcolm Offord as their representative in the Scottish Parliament. Sources: Companies House, Sunday Mail 3 May 2026, STV debate, right of reply correspondence.