As of late August, Nigel Farage’s Reform party now has representatives in local government, Westminster, the Welsh Senedd and the Scottish Parliament. The group’s only MSP is Graham Simpson, a frontline Conservative politician for almost ten years, who defected just under a fortnight ago. I caught up with him at the Reform conference – amid deafening tannoy announcements, last-minute timetable shifts and an ongoing government reshuffle – to hear more about the party’s plans for next year’s 2026 Holyrood election. 

What exactly attracted Graham Simpson to Reform? ‘I saw the party as something of a blank canvas,’ he explained.

The period following his defection was ‘a bit rough’, Simpson told me, visibly uncomfortable on thinking back to the event. ‘There were some pretty nasty things said about me,’ he recalled. ‘It’s upsetting for my family to read that kind of stuff. I don’t think we should make things personal.’ That week was a bit of a whirlwind, with the MSP whisked away to a dinner in Glasgow with Richard Tice and other Scottish Reform defectors the following day. The networking continued at conference, with the group’s myriad defectors still trying to figure out who their colleagues are. In recent months, 16 councillors have defected to the group, mostly from the Tory party but some independents and even former Labour people. ‘They’re very friendly,’ Simpson said.

What exactly attracted Simpson to Reform? ‘I saw the party as something of a blank canvas,’ he explained, referencing the quite unique scenario of the party’s polling surging in Scotland despite it not having nailed down many, if any, devolved policy positions yet. He praised the party’s ability to draw in........

© The Spectator