Daily Record Political Editor Paul Hutcheon says the row over Offord’s riches reveals the true nature of his politics.
Reform’s Scottish leader Malcolm Offord has five cars, six boats and one gigantic ego.
His extraordinary boast during the STV leaders’ debate about his assets revealed a man who is vain. He is proud when he looks in the mirror and he wants the rest of Scotland to feel the same way about him.
The general point made by the former Tory peer in his lively exchange with lefty Green Ross Greer was a good one.
Offord said he came from humble beginnings and made a fortune after travelling to London with nothing but student debt. He paid millions in tax and hired thousands of staff.
Greer bested Offord in the exchange but was nonetheless wrong to say we need “fewer” people like the Reform leader.
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But the disastrous mistake Offord made was in itemising his assets like he was like Harry Enfield’s “Loadsamoney” character in the 1980s.
Scots are broke and sick of being unable to afford basic food items at the supermarkets or being stung at the forecourt.
Boasting about his wealth – “six houses, five cars and six boats” – was insensitive, insulting and politically tin-eared.
Offord’s car crash TV appearance also revealed a great deal about his political leanings and ambitions.
He was a liberal-minded Tory before he jumped yacht to the hard right Reform. He is at his most comfortable talking about tax cuts and energy policy, not immigration.
At various points since his defection, he has looked uncomfortable when asked about Reform’s notorious advert questioning Anas Sarwar’s loyalty.
Asked by the BBC to name his political hero, he cited former US President Ronald Reagan, who was a pro-immigration Republican. In 1986, Regan signed a bill into law that gave an amnesty to any illegal immigrant who had entered the country since 1982.
Offord is more of a Thatcherite than a Faragist and Reform is the vehicle for creating a new Tory party out of the ashes of the old one.
Farage has hoodwinked voters by trying to put forward a platform that combines elements of the Right and Left.
Offord is not interested in any such triangulation. He has said Reform is “centre right” and he means it.
Some Tory policies have always polled better than the party itself and Offord’s solution is to rebadge the Conservatives with a new name.
His TV outburst also raises questions about whether he will be around long enough to complete his project.
Offord is a man who loves yachting, travel and the finer things in life. His party will do well next week, but he has zero chance of ever becoming First Minister
The idea that Offord is going to mill around Holyrood for five years leading a group of cranks and clowns is for the birds.
He is better at making money than he is at politics and it is inevitable he will go back to his first love.

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