Exclusive:Douglas Alexander, Anas Sarwar refuse to say if they were told about Ian Murray sacking before Edinburgh MP
The Scottish Secretary and Scottish Labour leader said they wouldn’t “get into private conversations with the Prime Minister”.
Douglas Alexander and Anas Sarwar have refused to say if they were told about Ian Murray’s sacking as Scottish Secretary before he was.
Mr Alexander, the incumbent Scottish Secretary, and Scottish Labour leader Mr Sarwar said they would not “get into private conversations with the Prime Minister”.
They were speaking in a joint interview at the Labour party conference in Liverpool.
Mr Murray was axed from the role by the Prime Minister last month and replaced with Mr Alexander.
The move came as a shock to many in Scottish Labour and Mr Murray took to social media to express his disappointment soon after.
He returned to government a day later as a junior culture minister following outrage among the Scottish party.
When the pair were asked who was told first about Mr Murray getting sacked, Mr Sarwar replied: “I’m not getting into private conversations with the Prime Minister.”
Mr Alexander did not say anything.
Mr Murray was the only Scottish Labour MP to win a seat at the 2015 and 2019 general elections. He served for six years in total as the only Scottish Labour MP, and spent five years as shadow Scottish secretary.
He became Scottish Secretary when Labour returned to government last year, but was sacked in last month’s reshuffle.
The sacking sparked a briefing war in which Scottish Labour figures criticised Mr Murray for not attending away day. One Scottish Labour MP also briefed Mr Alexander was a “wee p****” and that he had been gunning for Mr Murray’s job since he had been elected.
Mr Alexander has brushed off the briefing against him.
The Lothian East MP said: “This is not my first rodeo. There's always commentary, speculation, briefing, but I don't think people want us focused on ourselves. I think they want us focused on the country and the challenge of the coming campaign.
“And we're pretty laser light focused on the coming seven months rather than the last seven days.”
When asked if he felt bad about Mr Murray getting sacked, Mr Alexander said: “The first line of my speech to the conference was paying tribute to my friend and predecessor, Ian Murray, but I'm looking forward to working with Ian now.
“He's got an important job that stretches across two government ministries and he's part of the team.”
When it was suggested to him the Prime Minister must have thought he could do a different job to Mr Murray, Mr Alexander said: “That's above my pay grade. The Prime Minister chooses the team and, in that sense, I'm looking forward to playing my part.”
When asked what he would do differently to his predecessor, Mr Alexander said: “You'll find out in the months ahead. I'm working as co-chair of the campaign with [Scottish Labour deputy leader] Jackie Baillie.
“I'll be working very closely with and Anas to support his leadership of the campaign, and I'm looking forward to getting stuck in.”
When asked who the buck would stop with if Scottish Labour does not win next year’s election, Mr Alexander said: “We're working to win. We're not planning to lose.”
When asked if either he or Mr Alexander would resign if Scottish Labour loses, Mr Sarwar said: “We’re going to win.”
Mr Alexander returned as Scottish Secretary last month 18 years after previously holding the role.
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