Offord quoting Deacon Blue song ‘appals’ band

Malcolm Offord’s quoting of a Deacon Blue song “appals” the band, they have said in a statement.

The Reform UK leader in Scotland was appointed earlier this month by Nigel Farage and has quoted heavily from Deacon Blue’s hit Dignity in two press conferences.

The former Tory peer used the song – which tells of a council worker who saves to buy a boat in retirement – as an analogy for his own story, which now sees him race yachts and reportedly own a £1.6 million home near Loch Lomond.

Speaking at a press conference in Renfrewshire on Monday – where he laid out his party’s desire to cut taxes by £2 billion immediately upon an election win – Mr Offord quoted from the song, adding: “I love this song, not just for the words and the music, but for the message of working hard and saving up to make your dreams come true.”

He added: “I think these lyrics encapsulate the essence of Scotland.

“I want everyone in Scotland to work, to save up their money and to follow their dreams.”

But in a statement to the Guardian, the band said: “Once a song is released into the world it can be sung, listened to and loved or hated by anyone; that is just the nature of releasing a song.

“However, it appals us to see the lyrics of any of our songs being used to bolster a campaign and ideology which is completely at odds with what the song, and we as a band, believe.”

The band added: “It has been deeply depressing to see the poisonous rhetoric of Reform take hold in Scotland.”

Reform has been contacted for comment.