SARWAR TAKES GAMBLE OF CAREER

Appointment of Mandelson was last straw for Scots Labour leader facing election wipe-out He's put country and party first - but will ministers back stance or shut him out in cold?

- PAUL HUTCHEON

THE friendship between Anas Sarwar and Keir Starmer ended after a heated conversation at 1.30pm yesterday.

Sarwar called the Prime Minister to tell him he would be holding a press conference within the hour to demand his resignation.

The 20-minute discussion, described as “difficult” by one of Sarwar's allies, was the culmination of a range of soundings the Scottish Labour leader took over the weekend.

Sitting in a room in party HQ in Glasgow, Sarwar told the PM he had to do what was best for Scotland and that meant calling for him to go.

Although he reached this decision on his own, Sarwar's deputy, Jackie Baillie, played a key role in influencing his view.

Sarwar's friends say he felt he had no choice but to cut Starmer loose and make the most difficult decision of his leadership.

Starmer was a never-ending migraine for Scottish Labour and the scandal over Peter Mandelson's appointment as ambassador to the US was the tipping point.

"The straw that broke the camel's back," one insider said.

Since the general election win, the UK Government's blunders had turned a sizeable Labour lead into a 20-point deficit.

Starmer, as one politician put it, is “hated” on the doorsteps and a “toxic liability”.

Under the current PM, Labour insiders believe they are headed for a Holyrood election disaster and third place at best.