Anas Sarwar opening himself up to charges of disloyalty with Gaza comments
Sir Keir Starmer is undoubtedly relieved that his newest recruit is unashamedly on his side in Labour’s internal battle over its approach to the Gaza crisis… unlike the leader of his Scottish party.
In an outspoken, and frankly, wrong-headed approach that angered and confused Scottish Labour stalwarts in equal measure, Anas Sarwar attacked Starmer’s refusal to back a total ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave.
He said that the Labour leader’s comments had upset the Muslim community and that civilians in Gaza were being “slaughtered” in Israeli air strikes.
However, in backing calls for a total ceasefire, Sarwar immediately found himself opposed by his party’s newest MP - Michael Shanks, who spectacularly captured Rutherglen and Hamilton in last month’s by-election. The latter resolutely lined up behind Starmer’s position, which is for a pause in hostilities to allow humanitarian aid to be sent into Gaza.
And he poured scorn on those, like Sarwar, who backed a total ceasefire, saying that if only one side abided by it, how would that help end the violence?
He agreed that the Palestinian people were not Hamas and didn’t deserve to “suffer for Hamas barbarity” and added that while a pause in hostilities might not end the conflict, “it will save lives”.
His words, in what is his first public statement as an MP, come as Starmer is struggling to hold his shadow cabinet and party together in the face of complaints from many senior MPs. Fifteen have declared their opposition to the leader’s position and two shadow ministers have resigned their posts.
Starmer was mobbed by angry demonstrators after a defiant speech this week in which he stuck to his guns and said a ceasefire was not credible and would “embolden” Hamas to commit further acts of violence.
However, Sarwar’s intervention is as controversial as it is unexpected, given that Scottish Labour is seen as crucial to Starmer’s hopes of winning enough seats north of the border to enable him to form a new government after next year’s election. And failing to support the man who, according to opinion polls, is on course to become prime minister has stunned supporters.
It’s not the first time Sarwar has disagreed with Starmer after the latter had said that North Sea oil and gas production should be maintained, whereas Sarwar favoured a freeze. And there have been disputes over Labour’s backing for benefit cuts planned by the Conservative government.
But in provoking what is a serious disagreement over Labour’s approach to an international crisis, Sarwar is laying himself open to charges of disloyalty. That’s certainly the view of senior Labour figures who insist that he should “keep his eye on the prize” - of victory in next year’s general election.
“He’s trying to make himself relevant in this debate. How can he be? He’s the opposition leader in a small country. He should remember that,” said one senior figure.
Supporters say that Sarwar’s words are probably a reaction to pressure from the Muslim community in his Glasgow constituency but this is nothing like as large as that in Angela Rayner’s Ashton-under-Lyne constituency. And it is notable that the party’s deputy leader has not entered this internal party debate.
His father, Mohammed Sarwar, was the UK’s first Muslim MP in 1997 and was succeeded by his son in the Glasgow Central constituency who held the seat until 2010 when he was defeated by the SNP.
After leaving the Commons, Mohammed became Governor of Punjab, in his native Pakistan, from 2013 to 2015 and from 2018 to 2022.