Public will value my honesty in call for Starmer to quit, says Sarwar

Anas Sarwar has defended his decision to call for the Prime Minister to quit despite few Scottish MPs backing it, saying the public will value his “honesty”.

The Scottish Labour leader also said MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy, who has been suspended from the party, was “just wrong” when she defended her relationship with a convicted sex offender.

On Monday, Mr Sarwar became the most senior Labour figure by far to call for Sir Keir Starmer to resign.

But his intervention led to MPs and UK Cabinet colleagues rallying round the Prime Minister.

Mr Sarwar has stood by his statement and again said there had been “far too many mistakes” in Downing Street when he spoke to BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show.

He said he is not part of any “coup attempt” against Sir Keir and made a decision based on “my view and what I think is right”.

It was put to Mr Sarwar that his own standing within Labour had been diminished due to the limited support from Scottish MPs his position had attracted.

Mr Sarwar said: “Far too many people in politics think honesty is weakness.

“I think the opposite, and it’s why so many people in the public get turned off from politics. I think honesty is strength.”

He went on to accuse First Minister John Swinney and the SNP of “dishonesty” on issue like the construction of ferries and hospital infections in Glasgow.

Asked if he would campaign with Sir Keir ahead of the upcoming Scottish Parliament election, Mr Sarwar said he will be leading the campaign himself “from the front”.

He said: “If he (Sir Keir) wants to come and chap doors as a Labour Party member, of course he’d be welcome to come and chap doors and encourage people to vote for me to be first minister.”

Mr Sarwar went on to say that the Prime Minister would not be expected to speak at the upcoming Scottish Labour conference.

He was also asked about the statement from Ms Duncan-Glancy, who said she was “deeply disappointed” by Scottish Labour’s decision to remove the whip.

In December she was sacked from her frontbench role following revelations about her friendship with Sean Morton, a former Labour councillor in Moray who held indecent images of children.

She defended her relationship with Morton, saying while she did not condone his crimes he remains someone who is vulnerable and in need of support.

Mr Sarwar said she was “just wrong”, adding: “If someone is a convicted paedophile, they deserve to be shunned. They don’t deserve friendship or loyalty.”