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Scottish Labour is embroiled in a ‘civil war’ after the revelation that Anas Sarwar is to quit as leader to take up a job in Andy Burnham’s government.
The party is facing the prospect of another divisive leadership contest as the Left desperately seeks to regain control.
Mr Sarwar has faced criticism from within his party for quitting to take a seat in the House of Lords and a junior ministerial role, while a Left-wing faction is seeking a takeover of power and is lining up a bid to try to remove deputy leader Jackie Baillie too.
Scottish Labour’s finance spokesman, Michael Marra, has emerged as the frontrunner to be the next leader but could face a challenge from former leadership candidate Monica Lennon, who is in line to become an MSP following Mr Sarwar’s resignation, and fellow Left-winger Paul Sweeney, who is an enthusiastic supporter of Mr Burnham.
The new Prime Minister is due to visit Glasgow on Thursday, where he will hold his first meeting with First Minister John Swinney and attend the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games.
Ahead of the visit, where he will also meet Rhun ap Iorwerth, the First Minister of Wales, Mr Burnham said: ‘When I say we need good growth in every postcode, I mean every postcode across the whole of the UK. Every place and every person matters.
‘I’m not focused on point scoring or discussing constitutional changes like referendums, I want practical measures to help people live well and bring back hope.
‘That’s why I’m giving families more breathing space with help on the cost of living, which I have started this week by taking VAT off electricity bills, saving money for millions of households.’
Scottish Labour slumped to its worst result since devolution.
But the new Prime Minister is facing heavy criticism for handing Mr Sarwar a job in the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade and reappointing Douglas Alexander, who oversaw Scottish Labour’s election campaign, as his Scottish Secretary.
A Scottish Labour source said: ‘For the three people at the helm of the election campaign, one gets rewarded with a seat in the House of Lords, one gets rewarded with a seat in the Cabinet and one gets to remain deputy leader of the party and nobody seems to be held to account for any of the disaster that they inflicted on their colleagues. It is hardly meritocracy.’
Mr Sarwar’s impending resignation to take up a seat in the Lords and a ministerial role – which was first leaked on Tuesday evening – descended into farce yesterday as it still wasn’t formally announced.
Scottish Labour remained ready to release a statement as soon as his appointment was confirmed by Downing Street, but this continued to be held up due to junior ministerial posts still not being announced by Mr Burnham.
Who’s who in the race to be leader
MICHAEL MARRA: THE frontrunner to become Anas Sarwar’s successor played a key role in a pivotal moment in the slide of Scottish Labour.
Michael Marra was a close adviser to Iain Gray during the 2011 Holyrood election campaign when the then Scottish Labour leader sought refuge in a Subway shop in Glasgow to escape protester Sean Clerkin. Following the farcical scenes, Labour’s support collapsed and the SNP swept to a landslide victory.
A Labour member since his teenage years, he is an avid fan of Dundee United, regularly seen at matches with his son. His uncle is the late influential folk singer-songwriter Michael Marra, while sister Jenny was North East MSP for a decade prior to him replacing her in the same constituency in 2021.
PAUL SWEENEY: THE MSP many see as the most fervent supporter of Andy Burnham is widely expected to consider standing to be Anas Sarwar’s successor. He is from the Left of the party and has previously lavished praise on the new Prime Minister. But one Labour source said: ‘Sweeney idolises Burnham but it’s a one-way relationship.’
When he was an MP, Mr Sweeney accused Tory MP Ross Thomson of trying to fondle him in the Strangers Bar in the House of Commons in October 2018. An inquiry ruled the claim unfounded and cleared Mr Thomson.
MONICA LENNON: WHEN she made her way through the Labour ranks as a councillor, Monica Lennon was seen as a centrist politician but was reborn as a ‘Corbynista’ when she surprised many by backing the hard-Left politician’s leadership campaign.
An MSP for ten years from 2016, she lost to Mr Sarwar in the 2021 leadership contest and then failed to get elected in May’s election. Mr Sarwar’s resignation as an MSP will lead to her returning to Holyrood and she has not ruled out standing in a leadership contest.
JACKIE BAILLIE: THE current deputy leader of the party is thought likely to stand in as interim leader but it is believed she is unlikely to seek the role on a permanent basis.
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Mr Marra and Ms Lennon remained silent yesterday on whether they would stand for the leadership, while Mr Sweeney said it was too early to decide if he would stand.
If a leadership contest began quickly, Ms Lennon may be unable to put her name forward because she will not formally replace Mr Sarwar as Glasgow MSP until Holyrood returns from its summer recess at the end of next month, unless party chiefs agree to relax rules that those seeking nomination must be sitting parliamentarians.
Ms Baillie told the Mail she would be continuing as deputy leader.
But former Scottish Labour leadership contender Neil Findlay said: ‘When Richard Leonard was elected Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar and the right wing clique around him that included his deputy Jackie Baillie and Ian Murray worked every day to undermine and destabilise Richard’s leadership.
‘Then when he eventually succeeded Richard as leader he was an unmitigated disaster, taking Labour to two of its worst defeats in the devolution era.
‘Instead of being “rewarded” with a Government role and life-long pay cheque from the House of Lords he should have had the humility to resign and accept responsibility for the recent election debacle.
‘What Scottish Labour needs now is a complete reset and a clear out of those responsible for its disastrous electoral performances. Now that Sarwar has gone his deputy should be next - and not to the House of Lords.’
Alloa and Grangemouth MP Brian Leishman said he was glad Mr Sarwar was quitting following ‘dire’ electoral failings.
He told the Scotsman: ‘I really want to see the party have an honest, frank assessment and analysis of what has gone wrong, or why, in my opinion, what was once a large section of our core vote now no longer votes for Scottish Labour.
‘I want to get these people back home.
‘That’s why I say I want to get back to our traditional Scottish Labour roots and rediscover our radicalism.
‘Because quite frankly, what we’ve been offering the last five years clearly has not struck any chord with the electorate whatsoever.’
A Labour insider said that Mr Marra, who is regarded as a moderate from the centre-ground of the party, is clear ‘frontrunner’ and has significant support already amongst MSPs and MPs, saying: ‘He has a message that will resonate with the Left of the party – he is born and bred Labour family going back generations, brought up in a working class family in Dundee, helped tackle child poverty, and he is a proper trade unionist in a way Anas never was.
‘I think he will have a broad appeal right across the soft-Left and centrists – obviously not the Hard Left but they are a diminished group within the party after the Corbyn years. I think the Soft Left – the Burnhamites if you call them that – will probably get behind Marra, so he is a clear frontrunner.’
Speaking to the Holyrood Sources podcast, Mr Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow and convener of the public audit committee, said he has received ‘quite a lot of texts encouraging me to throw my hat in the ring’.
But he said: ‘It’s a massive, massive decision, both personally and politically to make. So it’s not something that I’m going to take lightly.’
He said he’s ‘seen at close quarters the toll it takes on some people’, and added: ‘It’s just too early to make a call either way, really. It’s always nice to be talked about. But just wait and see.’
During any leadership contest, candidates are expected to debate whether there should be further separation from the UK party.
Last month, Ms Lennon said a split from the UK party is an issue that should be considered during a post-election review.
Daniel Johnson, Scottish Labour’s economy spokesman, yesterday said the relationship with the UK party needs to be considered. But he told BBC Radio Scotland’s Lunchtime Live: ‘I don’t believe a clean break, as you put it, is possible.
‘I think in a sense our destiny and context is always going to be seen in the light of the UK Labour Party. I can’t see a situation where we form a new entity that has nothing to do with the UK Labour Party, that would be going against all our principles of solidarity and collective action.’
He said ‘a number of people within the Scottish Labour Party have the talent and capability to lead’ but refused to speculate on names.
SNP MSP Laura Mitchell said: ‘Civil war is raging amongst Labour MPs from Scotland and it’s hard not to blame them - this whole thing reeks of a long planned scheme.’
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