Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has denied being part of any wider attempt to oust the Prime Minister after calling for him to go.
Sir Keir Starmer has faced increasing pressure to quit over his appointment of Lord Peter Mandelson to Washington as British ambassador, after his links to Jeffrey Epstein became known, with both his chief of staff and head of communications resigning in recent days.
On Monday, Sarwar became the most senior figure in the Labour Party to call on the Prime Minister to stand down.
However, members of the UK Cabinet publicly backed Sir Keir shortly after Sarwar’s statement, with Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander insisting that the PM will still be in Downing Street at the end of the year.
On Tuesday, Sarwar kept a low profile as it appeared the Prime Minister’s job was safe.
In a pre-arranged huddle at Holyrood on Wednesday, the Scottish Labour leader said he “stands by” his call on Sir Keir to step down.
“I stated my view”, he said.
“I stand by that view. I welcome the fact that there is now general acceptance that things have not been good enough, that there have been far too many mistakes and things have to change.
“I’m the one that’s standing to be First Minister in three months’ time.”
Sarwar also said the call was “my decision alone” and that he was “not part of any wider attempt” to oust the PM.
The Scottish Labour leader said Scots deserved to know if he was “willing to call out failure wherever I see it” and act differently as first minister.
“The people in Scotland deserve to know what my standards are, what I believe, what I’m willing to tolerate, and what I would do differently if I was elected as First Minister”, he added.
“And that’s what I’m making clear to them.
“That’s about my country, Scotland. And I think the people of Scotland can see quite clearly that they have someone that is willing to be open, honest and to put Scotland first and foremost.
“I’m the one that recognizes that this country can’t afford a third decade of an SNP government.
“That for me is more important than any given relationship or anything that might matter to the Westminster bubble.”
In his first public comments on Sarwar’s announcement, Sir Keir said he supported Sarwar “100%” despite him calling for him to go.
Sir Keir told broadcasters: “I’ve got a huge respect for Anas Sarwar. Obviously, he made his views known yesterday.
“But I want to be really clear that I’m 100% supportive of Anas Sarwar to be the First Minister in Scotland, he’d be an incredible First Minister and I support him 100% without reservation.”
Sir Keir Starmer reiterated his apology for appointing Lord Peter Mandelson at a meeting of the women’s Parliamentary Labour Party on Wednesday.
But he told Labour MPs that an apology “must come with action” and that he looks forward to working with them to tackle misogyny and violence against women and girls, it is understood.
He said more needs to be done to eradicate structural misogyny and achieve real cultural change and close his statement by saying he looked forward to joining the Women’s PLP meeting again soon.
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