The biggest beneficiary of Robert Jenrick’s defenestration and defection was neither Kemi Badenoch nor Nigel Farage but Malcolm Offord. He is the former Tory peer whose unveiling as Reform’s Scottish leader was in progress when the purring notifications orchestra struck up among the assembled reporters and Reform staffers. The news of Jenrick’s ouster dominated the remainder of the proceedings, which was fortunate for Offord because his first media event as leader was a handy reminder of his shortcomings.

Reform is trying to have it both ways with Offord, selling him as a political outsider and a safe pair of hands with experience in parliament and government. If he truly were a political outsider, it might mitigate some of his unimpressive responses to media questions. Take taxes, a current and salient issue in Scotland because of the devolved Scottish rate of income tax and the higher bands the SNP has created. Offord dealt promptly with a question on whether he pays the Scottish rate – he does – but was plainly unprepared for the question of whether he would release his tax returns. 

Beyond the registering of financial interests, I’m not sure why the public is any more entitled to know about a candidate’s tax affairs than they are his medical history, personal life or religious convictions. The........

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