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At 2.30pm on February 9th, Anas Sarwar called for the resignation of the deeply troubled Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer. He ended up acting alone. The big beasts, Streeting and Raynor, hesitated then pledged loyalty to Starmer. If anything, Starmer is now strengthened and his jolly, bullish manner at PMQs today suggests just that.

How should this apparent treachery by Sarwar have worked out in a normal world? Starmer should have ‘had his guts for garters‘, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but some day soon and for the rest of his short non-career.

What actually happened?

The very next day:

Sir Keir Starmer has expressed “huge respect” for Anas Sarwar little more than 24 hours after the Scottish Labour leader urged the prime minister to quit. Hoping to turn around unfavourable polling figures ahead of May’s Holyrood election, Sarwar dramatically announced on Monday that the situation in Downing Street was “not good enough”.

In response, Starmer gave his “100%” backing to the Scottish Labour leader. He also told reporters Sarwar would make an “incredible” first minister.

^{https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp329k4qvx3o}

Today, u-turning, himself:

The Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, has agreed that Keir Starmer can campaign for the party in the Holyrood elections just days after calling for the prime minister to resign. In a marked change of position, Sarwar said Starmer and other cabinet ministers were welcome to support Scottish Labour’s faltering effort to win in May, but only if they demonstrated how the UK government was improving lives in Scotland.

^{Scotland. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/11/anas-sarwar-keir-starmer-campaign-labour-scotland-call-to-quit}

Sarwar depends very much on the PM to support his tiny, financially weak, branch. Both men are Mandelsonites and may need to stick together again in the days and weeks to come as more files are released. Sarwar is the only vaguely senior figure, but at the same time, really inconsequential in the Labour Party, that Starmer could ask to do this, for him. Also, being Scottish, Sarwar will have riled the essentially English Nationalist majority in the Labour party and prompted them to circle the wagons around their leader, just as he planned.

Tell me why I’m wrong.

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