A FORMER Tory MSP is advising Reform UK in the Scottish Parliament after leaving frontline politics.
Maurice Golden, the former North East list MSP, told the Courier that he was having a “brilliant” time working with Nigel Farage’s party.
Golden, who was critical of Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay in his last few months in Holyrood, set up his own consultancy firm and confirmed to the newspaper that Reform UK is one of his clients.
He said he was providing “political intelligence” for the group of 17 MSPs, the majority of whom have not been elected to the Scottish Parliament before, bar Graham Simpson, Golden’s former colleague who defected from the Tories.
We previously told how Golden was criticised for changing his position on Scotland’s deposit return scheme (DRS) after accepting match tickets from Heineken.
He also criticized then-Tory prime minister Rishi Sunak in 2023 for watering down climate pledges. Reform are against net zero policies and advocate for further drilling in the North Sea.
“My job’s to provide political intelligence to any clients, and Reform’s one of those,” Golden told The Courier.
“I’ve got a number of clients, and they’re one of them. I’m really enjoying working for them, and I want them to be effective in the Scottish Parliament.”
He claimed they were a “good bunch” and “really easy to get on with”.
Tory sources told the newspaper they had not expected Golden to work with Reform after leaving politics, particularly as he was an outspoken critic of the Tories before he quit.
He warned Findlay that the Tories were trying to “out-Reform-Reform” and claimed there had been a “populist lurch” in the party.
One Tory source claimed Golden had been “flirting” with the LibDems during the last parliamentary term. His former colleague Jamie Greene defected from the Tories to the LibDems citing issues with the directions the Tories had taken.
“He’s got his principles, but he’s happy to lease them to the highest bidder,” a Tory source said of Golden to the Courier.
Golden insists he is “politically neutral”, that he is not a Reform member and his work is on a short-term basis.
He said the work was helping Reform MSPs get to grips with working in parliament, and that he would do so with any of Holyrood’s five other parties.
“Within limits, I’ll work with any client,” he told the newspaper.
