Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar calls for Keir Starmer to go
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar today called for Sir Keir Starmer to step down as Prime Minister.
At a press conference in Glasgow, he said he had a “genuine friendship” with Sir Keir, but there had been “too many mistakes” and “the leadership in Downing Street has to change”.
His intervention came as another Downing Street aide, communications director Tim Allen, quit this morning, following Sir Keir’s chief adviser Morgan McSweeney, who resigned yesterday over his advice to appoint Peter Mandelson as US ambassador last year.
Mr Sarwar said with the Holyrood elections just three months away, his first loyalty was to Scotland and he was not prepared to see the SNP enter a third decade of power here.
He said: “I am clear I have to do what’s right for my country, Scotland. This isn’t easy and it’s not without pain as I have a genuine friendship with Keir Starmer. But my first priority and my first loyalty is to my country.
“I’m not willing to sacrifice Scotland’s NHS, our schools, our towns, cities, villages and islands to a third decade of an SNP government. That’s why the distraction needs to end and the leadership in Downing Street has to change.”
He said he was not supporting any alternative candidate.
But he made clear he was worried about fighting the Scottish Parliament elections in May with the current situation continuing.
He said: ”It is so obvious that we desperately need change in Scotland and n three months’ time the opportunity to get rid of a failing SNP government is one that is too important to be missed. We cannot allow the failures at the heart of Downing Street to mean the failures continue here in Scotland.”
He said the situation in Downing Street was “not good enough”. “There have been too many mistakes. They promised they were going to be different, but too much has happened. Have there been good things? Of course there have, but no-one knows them and no-one can hear them because they are being drowned out. That’s why it cannot continue.”
He said he had spoken to the Prime Minister earlier today to tell him of his planned statement, “I think it’s safe to say he and I disagreed.”
Mr Sarwar also said: “Keir Starmer is a decent man and it is no secret I’ve always got on well with him.”
But he said: “In three months we have an election that must be about one thing and one thing only - Scotland. That is my duty, that is my priority, that is my loyalty and that is Scotland’s choice.”
Mr Sarwar’s move led to immediate speculation over whether the Prime Minister could survive such a call from the leader of Scottish Labour. Sir Keir is due to address Labour MPs this evening.
But minutes before Mr Sarwar spoke, Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy posted his support for Sir Keir on social media, saying: " Keir Starmer won a massive mandate 18 months ago, for five years to deliver on Labour's manifesto that we all stood on. We should let nothing distract us from our mission to change Britain and we support the Prime Minister in doing that."
And other Cabinet ministers also rallied to the Prime Minister. Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: "With Keir as our Prime Minister we are turning the country around."
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said: "At this crucial time for the world, we need his leadership not just at home but on the global stage."