View from the Street: Enough is enough: Why Sarwar’s rebellion was strategic, not reckless
Published
Malcolm Robertson
‘Enough is enough’ is the timeless disco classic in which Barbara Streisand and Donna Summer express disappointment in what they imagined would be “the perfect lover”.
As the tempo picks up, so too does the confidence in those magnificent women as they tell themselves: ‘You can do it, tell him to just get out.’
Though not exactly analogous, this is essentially the sentiment that drove Anas Sarwar to make his dramatic intervention in the latest fiasco surrounding the UK government this week.
In calling for Keir Starmer to stand down, Sarwar became the first senior Labour politician to say out loud what many of the rest of them have thought for a while.
They don’t yet have the courage to say so publicly or – more to the point – they’ve not finalised their own plans to sack the prime minister, and so Sarwar’s timing is, for them, frightfully inconvenient.
I was in London this week and am fascinated by some of the reaction there to what is pretty much an unprecedented episode in modern politics. Labour tends not to overthrow leaders, certainly not prime ministers, and in Scotland, the ruling party has all but banned dissent. So, this is certainly unusual, and it merits considered analysis and not simplistic judgements.
Viewing these events through the prism of Westminster politics – the only show in town for most MPs and the UK media – is pointless. Scotland’s two parliaments sit 403 miles apart, but the gulf might as well be a million miles at times like this. The whole system there – parliament and the lobby – is programmed to obsess about that institution and that institution alone.
Instead, consider that in three months, Anas Sarwar will face the Scottish electorate in a vote that will define his political life.
Then ask if he should meekly accept defeat without first aligning himself with what most people in Scotland can see with their own eyes? Is he wrong to call out the disappointment most of the country feels having voted for Labour in such large numbers less than two years ago? The disappointment that is undermining every day of his campaign to become first minister.
Then ask why should he care that some of his colleagues are not ready for a leadership contest, or even care who replaces Starmer? Why shouldn’t he challenge those same colleagues to do a better job and live up to the promises they all made to change the country for the better?
Sarwar only cares about the Scottish election in May – he desperately wants the opportunity to serve his country from government – and there is now a belief in his team that Scotland (and Wales for that matter) are expendable – reduced to mid-term (Westminster) milestones that might be bothersome because – stand by for an old, rotten chestnut – ‘all governments are unpopular at this time in the electoral cycle’.
For Sarwar and his team, those old-fashioned ways are no longer good enough, and they do not reflect the Scottish Parliament that Labour delivered. Scotland’s interests will be put first, regardless of how many noses are put out of joint.
In any event, senior ministers remain publicly and privately supportive of Sarwar. At a fundraising dinner in London this week, Rachel Reeves told guests that she and her boss will still fight to get him into Bute House.
It could have been so different. In the summer of 2024, all the momentum was with Anas Sarwar and Scottish Labour. He stood proudly on the banks of the Clyde, flanked by 37 Scottish Labour MPs. The SNP was chastened and the office to which he aspired – First Minister of Scotland – was in his sights and he believed it possible.
That’s changed. Everything’s changed. Enough is enough and there’s no going back. Sarwar has rolled the dice, and we’ll soon see how they land.