MALCOLM Offord has claimed more than £34,000 from the taxpayer for attending the House of Lords in the space of seven months, The National can reveal.
Lord Offord of Garvel, who was made a life peer by Boris Johnson’s Tory government so that he could take on a ministerial role in the Scotland Office, announced at the weekend that he was defecting to Nigel Farage’s party.
Offord has said he will give up his peerage to run for Holyrood 2026, having been a member of the unelected chamber since October 2021.
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An analysis by The National found that between December 2024 and June 2025, the 61-year-old racked up £34,340 in payments from the public purse for attending the House of Lords and through travel expenses.
As the Lords publish expense information six months behind, it is not known how much Offord claimed between July 2025 and his defection in December.
But for 69 days of attendance over that six month period he claimed £23,948 in daily allowance, £9598 in travel expenses and £693 in overnight allowance.
Offord claimed £7662 for air travel, £1678 for train expenses, and £258 for taxis and parking.
He claimed £101 in free postage from the Lords over the same period.
"This is just another example of how Nigel Farage's Reform UK are completely out of touch with the pressures facing people every day in Scotland - rising energy bills, food prices and making ends meet," an SNP spokesperson said.
"The multi-millionaires of Reform have nothing to offer Scotland. Their leadership are the epitome of the Westminster establishment and with the fresh start of independence we can be rid of his brand of politics for good.”
Scottish Greens MSP Maggie Chapman added that the Lords is a “constitutional abomination that celebrates excess, wealth and cronyism”.
“It treats power like an heirloom or a gift to be handed to friends and donors,” she said.
“I can’t think of many things that provide worse value for money than funding Malcolm Offord’s air travel.
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“Unfortunately, this will be the tip of the iceberg for an institution that should have been abolished long ago.
“The fact that Reform has celebrated the defection of a decadent millionaire who has bankrolled the Tories and been rejected by the electorate is a sign of how out of touch they are.
“They have no interest in making things better for working class people and families.”
Reform UK have been contacted for comment.
The Greenock-born peer has a history of working in investment banking and finance.
His firm, Badenoch and Co, is based in Edinburgh and described as "a boutique investment office specialising in private equity and property with a focus on Scotland".
Offord announced his defection to Reform at an event with Nigel Farage in Falkirk on Saturday.
He later told the BBC that he had not told Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay about his decision ahead of the announcement. Offord was treasurer of the Scottish Tories at the time of his defection.
Offord also told the BBC he hadn’t yet paid his £50 membership fee, when asked if he had made any donations to the party.
He had previously donated £150,000 to the Tories ahead of his appointment to the Lords, which was made after he failed in his bid to be elected to the Scottish Parliament on the Tory list in the Lothians region in 2021.
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He declined to say if he would give any money to Farage’s party, but said he would be giving “quite a lot of my time and personal energy” to the party during the Scottish Parliament campaign.
It comes after Offord dismissed accusations that Farage was racist by his former schoolfriends, claiming he had used “intemperate language”.
Holocaust survivors have called on the Reform leader to apologise over allegations of racism and antisemitism.
He has been accused of praising Hitler, mocking gas chambers and engaging in racist abuse, which Farage has denied.
We previously told how Donald Cameron, a former Scottish Tory MSP who was made a life peer in order to take over from Offord in the Scotland Office, claimed more than £34,000 in the first year he was a member of the Lords.
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