Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has stood down to become a minister in Andy Burnham's government. His departure comes only weeks after he offered himself to Scottish voters as the person to replace John Swinney as first minister, and follows a disastrous Holyrood result for Labour.
Sarwar has never hidden his ambition to hold high office, but the speed of his move has reignited debate inside the party about his strategy and about the performance of Scottish Labour’s campaign team. Questions are also being asked of the party’s campaign co-directors Jackie Baillie and Douglas Alexander.
That election went spectacularly wrong for Labour. The SNP secured a fifth consecutive term in power and Labour recorded its worst Holyrood result since devolution, despite having beaten the SNP in Scotland at the UK general election two years earlier.
Sarwar had said he would stay on as leader to steady the ship, so his swift exit has become a source of controversy for some. There are those who see his move as a reward for failure after the Holyrood defeat, while others view it as a reward for treachery after he was the first senior Labour figure to call for Starmer to quit, undermining the then prime minister to the eventual benefit of Andy Burnham.
The prime minister's cabinet includes a number of those who took a stand against Starmer, so perhaps it should be no surprise that Burnham would want to make Sarwar a minister too. The appointment has also prompted criticism from those who see it as hypocritical for Sarwar to take a peerage after previously saying he would not accept one, especially as both he and Andy Burnham have expressed support for replacing the Lords with a senate of the nations and regions.
By appointing another life peer within his first few days in office, is the new PM not sending out a completely contradictory signal?
By appointing another life peer within his first few days in office, is the new PM not sending out a completely contradictory signal?
Sarwar could argue that he is an ally in Burnham's effort to rewire how British politics works and that he can now press for change from inside government. As an experienced Labour leader in a devolved parliament and a former Westminster MP, he may be well placed to strengthen Burnham's case for devolving power from parliaments into cities and communities, an argument Labour says could help drive economic growth.
Who could replace Sarwar?
Where does all this leave Scottish Labour? At yet another crossroads. Sarwar was the party's tenth leader since the creation of the Scottish Parliament, and the party is now looking for number eleven.
The current deputy leader Jackie Baillie is in acting charge, as she has been on a number of occasions in the past. She has always resisted running for the top job and will almost certainly do so again.
More likely candidates include MSP Michael Marra and Sarwar's probable replacement at Holyrood Monica Lennon, if the rules of the contest allow her to run. The snag is that she has to be an MSP to stand for the leadership and will not be able to take her seat until the Scottish Parliament returns in September.
My gut feeling - and it is only that - is that the party's ruling body, the Scottish Executive Committee, would want to accommodate her candidacy if she would like to run.
The Scottish Labour party currently has 17 MSPs.
Other names that have been mentioned include MSPs Daniel Johnson and Paul Sweeney.
As I mentioned, there is already an internal debate about what went wrong in the 2026 Holyrood campaign and what the party needs to change. Those conversations would fold into any leadership contest, with the choice of personality as important as the party's future policy offer.
There is also likely to be discussion about whether Scottish Labour should split from the UK party, and some members may want to revisit their opposition to another independence referendum. These are huge questions for a party that once dominated Scottish politics and still hungers for a route back to power at Holyrood.
