REFORM UK's deputy leader Richard Tice has been left red-faced after being unable to name two councillors who have defected to his party.
Tice called journalists from across Scotland to a press conference outside a chip shop in Glasgow to announce two councillors had defected from the Conservatives to Reform.
But in an embarrassing exchange with reporters, he was unable to say what their names were.
Earlier in the day, Tice was involved in a tense exchange with BBC presenter Gary Robertson.
Reform UK have confirmed Renfrewshire councillor John Gray and South Lanarkshire councillor Ross Lambie have defected to the party.
Initially, Tice refused to say what their names were at all and disappeared inside the Val D'oro chip shop before coming out to answer questions from the press.
He was then asked by a journalist to confirm who the defectors were and where they were from.
"So we’ve got John and Ross," he said.
He was then asked for their surnames to which he responded: "Are you going to challenge me on everything or are you going to ask me a politics question? I’m answering policy questions."
Pressed to say what their surnames were, he refused to answer the question and proceeded to just repeat their first names.
"John and Ross, next question?," Tice went on.
The reporter then asked if he knew anything about Scottish politics when he couldn't even name his own members, to which Tice replied: "We've got 10,000 members and I don't know all 10,000 members.
🚨📽️ WATCH: Reform UK Deputy Leader Richard Tice appears to forget the names of the party's newest defectors during their official unveiling in Scotland pic.twitter.com/Lvz0aFPbuG
— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) March 6, 2025
"What we have got is policies that will make people better off in Scotland."
Tice then posed for pictures with the councillors despite still not appearing to know their identities.
Gray represents the Renfrew North and Braehead Ward on Renfrewshire Council and has left the Conservatives "after years of disappointment", Reform have said.
Lambie represents the Clydesdale South ward on South Lanarkshire Council.
Elsewhere, Tice would not rule out working with Scottish Labour at Holyrood.
"We're polling pretty close to Labour and if we keep this momentum, who knows, we might be polling above Labour," he said.
"We're going to get a good number of seats here and we're excited about that."
Asked if he would work with Scottish Labour, he went on: "We should work with anybody who wants to make people better off. That has to be the key objective of everybody. Currently, all the parties, under the SNP's ruination of Scotland, they've made people poorer. It's ludicrous."
In recent polling, Reform have been predicted to take 15 seats in the Scottish Parliament.
Tice also had a tense exchange with BBC presenter Robertson on Thursday morning when he was pressed on John Swinney's view that Nigel Farage is “fundamentally racist”.
Tice said: “Are you accusing, are you accusing the, the Scottish voters who are not willing to vote for the SNP or Labour, are you accusing them all of being racist? Don't be daft. Don’t be juvenile."
Robertson then asked why Scottish voters should support a party “when it seems that Scotland is so down [Reform’s] list of priorities”
Speaking over the question, Tice sharply responded: “If you're going to ask me a question, have the courtesy of letting me answer, otherwise there's no point doing anything.”
Tensions in the interview hit a boiling point when Tice was pressed on Reform UK’s leadership.
Earlier in the year, Farage “handed over ownership of Reform UK to its members”, according to the party.
Changes have been posted on Companies House that show Reform 2025 Ltd has been established and now controls the shares in the party. Farage remains a director.
Sidestepping the question, Tice (below) said: “If you take the time to read our constitution, you'll find out.”
