Nigel Farage has falsely accused The Herald of working with demonstrators who attempted to derail his speech and press conference in Aberdeen.
In an astonishing broadside, the Reform UK leader wrongly claimed our reporters were “involved with this group of protesters outside”.
Mr Farage said this was because The Herald had sent both its Political Editor and a “protest correspondent”.
“You knew more about this than we did,” he claimed, after The Herald said that simply was not true.
“This location was only sent to you guys. It was not put out on the public wires. We did not put it out to our membership, and yet they knew — so it came from one of you,” Mr Farage added.
The Herald — like all Scottish media accredited for the event — received details of the location the night before.
Like others, sent a number of journalists to cover Mr Farage’s first campaign event in Scotland in some years.
Catherine Salmond, Editor, said: “The responsibility of a trusted news brand is to act with integrity. The idea that The Herald was involved with protests in Aberdeen against Nigel Farage and Reform UK is ridiculous.
“Our job is to report on the truth and to hold those who do not tell the truth to account.
“Attacking the media has become commonplace under Donald Trump in the US and today we have seen it here in Scotland, by Reform UK, against The Herald. A low tactic and one we should all stand against.”
Liberal Democrat Scottish Affairs spokesperson and former journalist Christine Jardine also criticised the Reform leader.
The MP said: "Nigel Farage delivers more bull than a farm full of Aberdeen Angus.
"This attack on the media represents a descent into properly Trumpian behaviour from the Reform leader.
"Before you know it, he'll be banging on about building a wall and chanting "lock her up" to cover for his complete lack of actual solutions.
“There are a lot of people are frustrated that they have been let down by the SNP, Conservatives and Labour but it’s the Liberal Democrats who are offering real change, not Reform. Farage doesn't care about getting you swift access to a local GP or dentist. We do."
During his speech, Mr Farage doubled down on his attacks on Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.
That by-election has been dominated by a row over a Reform advert which has been branded “racist” by Reform’s opponents, and which claims that Mr Sarwar will “prioritise” the Pakistani community in Scotland.
Asked about this, Mr Farage insisted Reform UK “don’t talk about race at all”.
He pointed out his party’s chairman, Zia Yusuf, was someone who “is Scottish born, but comes from parents who come from the Indian subcontinent”.
Mr Farage continued: “We think everybody should be treated equally. We object, very strongly, to the segmentation of people into different types.”
Adding that the Scottish Labour leader has a “record of obsession on this issue”, he went on to reference a speech Mr Sarwar gave in 2020 where he noted that key figures across Scotland, from the judiciary, to council chief executives to head teachers, were all white.
Mr Farage said: “I think that speech he gave was sectarian in its very nature – we are the south Asian community, we are going to take over the country and take over the world.
“We believe what he said was a form of sectarian politics and we don’t like it one little bit.”
His comments came after First Minister John Swinney claimed the Reform UK leader “doesn’t care about Scotland”.
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