Scottish Labour Leader Anas Sarwar Calls on Starmer to Resign as PM

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has called on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to resign, dealing what many at Westminster consider a fatal blow to a premiership already in freefall over the Mandelson-Epstein scandal Scottish Labour leader to call for Starmer to quitpolitico.eu·SecondaryLONDON — Anas Sarwar, the leader of Britain’s center-left Labour Party in Scotland, will call for Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer to quit later Monday. A senior Scottish Labour official, granted anonymity to discuss internal decisions, confirmed to POLITICO that Sarwar — once a close ally of Starmer — will call for him to resign at an unplanned press conference to be held at 2.30 p.m.. Sarwar is the most senior Labour figure to publicly break ranks, and his intervention at a hastily arranged Glasgow press conference on Monday signals that the party's internal dam has broken.

"The situation in Downing Street is not good enough. There have been too many mistakes," Sarwar declared Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar to call on Keir Starmer to stand downtheguardian.com·SecondarySarwar said to be furious Starmer’s repeated mistakes have heavily damaged Scottish support before May elections Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, is to call on Keir Starmer to stand down as prime minister and Labour leader at a hastily arranged press conference in Glasgow. Sarwar is said to be furious that the prime minister’s repeated mistakes have heavily damaged support for Scottish Labour in the run-up to crucial Scottish parliament elections in May.. "My first priority and my first loyalty has to be to my country, Scotland."

The Mandelson-Epstein Scandal

The crisis engulfing Starmer's government centres on his appointment of Peter Mandelson as Britain's Ambassador to the United States. Mandelson, a veteran Labour strategist and former Business Secretary who served under Tony Blair, was named to the prestigious diplomatic post in January. However, newly released documents from the Epstein files have revealed previously undisclosed details about Mandelson's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender who died in custody in 2019 Scottish Labour leader to call for Starmer to quitpolitico.eu·SecondaryLONDON — Anas Sarwar, the leader of Britain’s center-left Labour Party in Scotland, will call for Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer to quit later Monday. A senior Scottish Labour official, granted anonymity to discuss internal decisions, confirmed to POLITICO that Sarwar — once a close ally of Starmer — will call for him to resign at an unplanned press conference to be held at 2.30 p.m..

Mandelson had acknowledged visiting Epstein's properties but has maintained his interactions were innocent. The fresh revelations have made his position as nominee politically untenable and turned the appointment into an existential threat to Starmer's leadership Scottish Labour leader to call for Starmer to quitpolitico.eu·SecondaryLONDON — Anas Sarwar, the leader of Britain’s center-left Labour Party in Scotland, will call for Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer to quit later Monday. A senior Scottish Labour official, granted anonymity to discuss internal decisions, confirmed to POLITICO that Sarwar — once a close ally of Starmer — will call for him to resign at an unplanned press conference to be held at 2.30 p.m..

The fallout has already cost Starmer two of his closest Downing Street advisers. Morgan McSweeney, his chief of staff and the strategist widely credited with engineering Labour's 2024 general election landslide, resigned on Sunday, taking "full responsibility" for advising Starmer to appoint Mandelson Scottish Labour leader to call for Starmer to quitpolitico.eu·SecondaryLONDON — Anas Sarwar, the leader of Britain’s center-left Labour Party in Scotland, will call for Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer to quit later Monday. A senior Scottish Labour official, granted anonymity to discuss internal decisions, confirmed to POLITICO that Sarwar — once a close ally of Starmer — will call for him to resign at an unplanned press conference to be held at 2.30 p.m.. Tim Allan, a former Blair adviser who had served as Starmer's communications director for six months, followed on Monday Scottish Labour leader to call for Starmer to quitpolitico.eu·SecondaryLONDON — Anas Sarwar, the leader of Britain’s center-left Labour Party in Scotland, will call for Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer to quit later Monday. A senior Scottish Labour official, granted anonymity to discuss internal decisions, confirmed to POLITICO that Sarwar — once a close ally of Starmer — will call for him to resign at an unplanned press conference to be held at 2.30 p.m..

A Friendship Broken by Political Reality

Sarwar's move carries particular weight because of his long personal friendship with Starmer. "There is probably no one in Scottish politics that has had a better relationship with Keir Starmer or a closer friendship with Keir Starmer than I have," Sarwar said Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar to call on Keir Starmer to stand downtheguardian.com·SecondarySarwar said to be furious Starmer’s repeated mistakes have heavily damaged Scottish support before May elections Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, is to call on Keir Starmer to stand down as prime minister and Labour leader at a hastily arranged press conference in Glasgow. Sarwar is said to be furious that the prime minister’s repeated mistakes have heavily damaged support for Scottish Labour in the run-up to crucial Scottish parliament elections in May.. "So does this cause me personal hurt and pain? Of course it does."

But with the Scottish Parliament elections on 7 May, Sarwar's calculations have shifted decisively. Scottish Labour, once the clear favourite to unseat the Scottish National Party government in Edinburgh, has slumped to third place in polls behind both the SNP and Reform UK Scottish Labour leader to call for Starmer to quitpolitico.eu·SecondaryLONDON — Anas Sarwar, the leader of Britain’s center-left Labour Party in Scotland, will call for Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer to quit later Monday. A senior Scottish Labour official, granted anonymity to discuss internal decisions, confirmed to POLITICO that Sarwar — once a close ally of Starmer — will call for him to resign at an unplanned press conference to be held at 2.30 p.m.. Sarwar had closely tied himself to Starmer early on but has grown increasingly distant as the PM's unpopularity deepened.

The SNP has seized on Labour's troubles. Scottish First Minister John Swinney called the situation "a demonstration of the chaos at the heart of the UK government," arguing it proved that only Scottish independence could insulate Scotland from Westminster dysfunction.

Sarwar simultaneously criticised the SNP's own record, pointing to an NHS crisis, a housing emergency with "more than 10,000 Scottish children homeless," and failures on youth safety Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar to call on Keir Starmer to stand downtheguardian.com·SecondarySarwar said to be furious Starmer’s repeated mistakes have heavily damaged Scottish support before May elections Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, is to call on Keir Starmer to stand down as prime minister and Labour leader at a hastily arranged press conference in Glasgow. Sarwar is said to be furious that the prime minister’s repeated mistakes have heavily damaged support for Scottish Labour in the run-up to crucial Scottish parliament elections in May.. But he insisted that Starmer's errors were drowning out Labour's policy achievements: "No one knows them and no one can hear them because they're being drowned out" Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar to call on Keir Starmer to stand downtheguardian.com·SecondarySarwar said to be furious Starmer’s repeated mistakes have heavily damaged Scottish support before May elections Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, is to call on Keir Starmer to stand down as prime minister and Labour leader at a hastily arranged press conference in Glasgow. Sarwar is said to be furious that the prime minister’s repeated mistakes have heavily damaged support for Scottish Labour in the run-up to crucial Scottish parliament elections in May..

Pressure Mounts Across the Party

Sarwar is not alone. Welsh Labour leader Eluned Morgan is expected to call on Starmer to quit later Monday, opening a second front within the devolved party leaderships. Labour MPs are preparing for a showdown meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party at 6pm, where Starmer is expected to face hostile questions from his own backbenchers.

Political analysts have noted the historical significance of the moment. Professor Sir John Curtice, the polling expert at Strathclyde University, told the BBC that Starmer now faces "the most severe internal party crisis for a sitting prime minister since Margaret Thatcher in November 1990."

Downing Street Digs In

Downing Street has rejected the resignation calls. A spokesman said Starmer "has a clear five-year mandate from the British people to deliver change, and that is what he will do."

Several senior cabinet ministers rallied behind the PM. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said Starmer would lead the UK delegation to the Munich Security Conference later this week, adding: "At this crucial time for the world, we need his leadership not just at home but on the global stage." Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy told reporters: "We've waited 14 years to get here." Chancellor Rachel Reeves insisted that "with Keir as our prime minister we are turning the country around."

However, the conspicuous silence from Health Secretary Wes Streeting — widely regarded as the frontrunner in any future leadership contest — has fuelled speculation. Several Labour MPs noted that Sarwar, who is believed to be close to Streeting, may have spared the Health Secretary the politically toxic role of wielding the knife himself.

Whether Starmer survives the week now depends on Monday evening's PLP meeting and whether further cabinet ministers follow Sarwar's lead. With the party's Scottish and Welsh leaders turning against him, the devolved elections approaching, and the Mandelson-Epstein scandal showing no signs of abating, the Prime Minister faces the gravest threat to his office since taking power in July 2024.