Tuesday, February 10, 2026

Which leader did Anas Sarwar just bring down - was it Keir Starmer, or himself?


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22 comments:

  1. It's highly likely neither Starmer or Sarwar will be leaders by June, although who Labour will dredge up to do either job isn't at all clear.
    Unlike Thatcher, there is a lack of any serious rival.

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  2. The Telegraph (not known for their contacts within the Labour Party) report that Sarwar was tricked into denouncing Starmer by Streeting. “You go first mate, I’ll follow.”. If Sarwar trusted notoriously perfidious Streeting, he’s dumber than he looks.
    The Anglocentric chatter is that the Gorton & Denton by-election will be the end of Starmer, and the Rayner, and Streeting camps are waiting ‘till after that passes. The fact that they would put the outcome of an English by-election on a higher plane than the impending annihilation of Labour in Wales is telling. The Greens are now odds on to win the Manchester by-election, aided by a fantastic candidate.
    If Gorton & Denton does result in Starmer’s departure, Sarwar could be left looking like a sage, and courageous leader. Yeah, I know.

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  3. Savanta, public attitudes to the Monarchy. Field work February, sample population 2,132.
    Excluding don’t knows.
    UK public favour a Monarchy over an elected head of state by Net +16%.
    Scottish sub-sample, equivalent metric, Net -6%.
    Differential 22%.

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  4. High risk strategy right enough. He’s either going to look like a tiger or a total idiot.
    What’ll work against him is useless leaders like Starmer generally don’t have the self awareness to know when to go (Corbyn was the biggest fud ever in this regard).

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  5. Douglas Alexander interviewed by bbc scotchland this morning. Geissler at 816 am stated that a recent YouGov poll from 2 weeks ago shows SNP not popular here at 25% popularity readings. I thought he bbc never referred to 1 poll in isolation. Is he accurate? Alexander pushing that Sarwar is independent. Sure! Except when Starmer tells him to jump.

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  6. Streeting has his eye on No 10 and needed an idiot proxy to directly challenge Starmer. Step forward Sarwar. Even Labour Party members are laughing at this. Hey Wes we’ve got an Anus called Sarwar crying down the phone. He wants you to talk to him. Tell him I’m out, and hang up.

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    Replies
    1. Streeting has two obstacles to his ambition (three if you count Starmer) 1 his pal Mandelson. 2 he has a parliamentary majority of only a few hundred.

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    2. Wes Streeting is a wee rat.

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  7. I don't know any Labour voters, or at least no-one who admits to it, but how many of them actually find Anas Sarwar impressive? His unhinged behaviour at FMQs last Thursday was excruciating to watch. Other than a few of the Labour MSPs sitting nodding behind him, does anyone else really believe that he's doing a good job?

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  8. technically a Labour leadership contest would have to be started ? How long would It be?

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    1. turkeys dont vote for Christmas. They will tough it out. The Cymru Election I think will be the deciding factor. The English bye-election is close enough to the debacle for Labour to write it off. If Labour loses in Scotland and in particular Cymru then his cabinet colleagues sorry competitiors will rebel.

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  9. Sarwar should have resigned over Grangemouth closure. Starmer and Brit Labour Party demonstrated their anti Scottish Bigotry over that. A plague on all of them.

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    1. "Sarwar should have resigned over Grangemouth closure"
      Yes he should have done that, or at least spoken out against Labour HQ back then, but he did not.
      Now it is a case of too little , too late and so then also far too obviously a calculated and somewhat desperate stunt , just to try to orchestrate some damage limitation for Labour in May's Scottish election.
      (Though some are indeed now saying that this was a plan concocted by someone at Labour HQ that has now, temporarily backfired.....mostly on Sarwar it seems).
      The fact that some at the BBC are presenting Sarwar as "brave" also tells you more about the BBC and it's continued allegiance to anyone but the SNP.
      Sarwar is anything but "brave", as up to now he has kept onside with all of Starmer's failures, bad decisions and bad policies in Sarwar also jumping on the Labour excuse bandwagon , in that he too was "blaming" the lack of "real change" by Labour as solely being down to the 'Tory financial black hole'.
      Any voters in Scotland falling for this week's contrived political stunt by Sarwar should then also consider themselves as part of the problem too, that is in why Scotland never gets any respite from all of this ongoing WM generated chaos, instability and drama.
      That chaos, instability and drams being a taster of what it would be like in a future Scotland too with Sarwar as our FM.
      God forbid , as now more than anything we all just need it to stop and so get some peace from what is a continued UK political S*** Fest.
      Liz S

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  10. Indeed and don’t forget Sir Anthony Meyer. Took a year all in.

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  11. Poor Sarwar. You have to feel for him. That performance was a mix between hilarioys and excruciating. He should have asked Greta Thunberg how to do sincerity.

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  12. bbc scotchland getting overly excited that labour is back. Starmer and Sarwar are best friends. Their source Douglas Alexander!!

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  13. YouGov, Westminster voting intention, field work 8 - 9 Jan. Labour holding steady at 19% week on week.
    More in Common, field work 6 - 10 Jan. Labour actually increase from 21% to 23%.
    Labour have reached their foundations. A bedrock of tribal loyalty nothing can apparently shift.

    All parties have the same phenomenon. John Swinney could wrap himself in a Union Jack, and pledge an undying love of devolution. The sheep would still bleat “John knows best, he’s got a plan, we’re playing the long game.”. They’d put their cross next to the SNP candidate. The Irish Parliamentary Party for the 21st century, but the wilfully blind cannot see.

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    Replies
    1. Hi IFSy. How goes it?

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    2. Note to the daftie at 4.49pm the post at 10.45am is not me. But when did lowlife trolls like you ever bother about the truth and accuracy - never.

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    3. Ach, there's always Liberate Scotland!

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  14. 1045 -we feel your angst britnat

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