Dear All
As campaign go, the attempt by Anas Sarwar to become the
leader of the Scottish Labour Party has been a total PR disaster both
professionally in terms of how he ran his campaign and personally regarding his
personal life.
If it could go wrong in his campaign it has, the new issue
is of credibility as Anas plunges into a new row over his commitment to the
living wage.
It now transpires that the Scottish Labour leadership
candidate failed to register as an accredited living wage employer. This little
gem follows on from the revelation that his family’s business where he was a
shareholder also didn’t pay the living wage. It has taken Anas Sarwar more than a year after being elected to Holyrood
to do, it appears that Anas is tidying up loose ends as he was accredited as a
living wage employer just a mere two weeks ago.
This shows a pattern, a pattern of failing to lead while in
public office, of course it is not the first time that Scottish Labour has
elected a leader who hasn’t be capable or downright careless but Anas just
blunders from mistake to mistake.
Anas Sarwar is a millionaire Glasgow MSP, the
stories that emerge are damning but the alleged ‘voting rigging’ scandal; ‘sign
up a Muslim to elect a Muslim’ has killed his campaign stone dead. If Anas
Sarwar wins, he will be facing a civil war with Momentum or the Campaign for
Socialism, Kezia Dugdale ducked that fight but the pro Corbyn group are growing.
In contrast to Anas’ blunder, his left-wing rival Richard
Leonard registered in late 2016, obviously Richard Leonard has an eye for
detail which Anas has failed to show.
What makes his latest failure so bad is it questions about
the importance of the issue to him, and by default his credentials for standing
in this leadership race. His tidying up exercises also saw him offload is his
23 per cent stake in his family firm, worth around £4.8m, to a trust for his
three children. This was a cynical bid to draw a line under that controversy.
Anas Sarwar never ‘gave away’ £4.8m, the shares have been
kept in his immediate family.
This raises the question, who suggested transferring the shares?
Is it appropriate to ‘use your kids’ in this fashion?
I would strongly suggest no!
Interestingly, it seems that Sarwar’s campaign team was last
night unable to say whether he applied for accreditation. It begs another
question was it before or over the row over UWS pay rates erupted on September
10?
When Ken Macintosh stood as Labour leader, he missed his
window of opportunity, he stood against Johann Lamont who apparently didn’t
want to be leader, and her time wasn’t exactly a success. When Ken Macintosh
stood again against Kezia Dugdale, he had completely lost his chance, which is
why he now sits as Presiding Officer. In some respects, his failure led to a
better situation in my opinion.
A spokesperson for Mr Leonard said:
“Richard Leonard applied for accreditation as a living wage
employer in October 2016 and was verified on 2nd November 2016. Richard pays
his staff at least the real living wage and has done so since they were
employed in Sept/Oct 2016.”
In terms of this contest, Richard Leonard doesn’t seem to
have put a foot wrong, Anas on the other hand hasn’t put a foot right, professional
disasters, personal disasters and lost every round of the PR battle as well.
Anas Sarwar is looking more like Ken Macintosh, a man who
lost his opportunity to be leader, but with the added kick in the teeth that there
isn’t a Presiding Officer’s job available.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
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