Graham Simpson accused of calling senior Reform leaders 'useless' and 'weasels'

The Scottish Labour leader said the Reform candidate, who was the party’s only MSP in the last parliament, made the comments to him after approaching him at Holyrood last month to ask for his number

Mr Sarwar claims Mr Simpson called Malcolm Offord, Reform’s Scottish leader, “useless”, and then called Councillor Thomas Kerr “a weasel”.

Speaking to journalists at the STUC conference in Dundee, Mr Sarwar said: “They’re not a serious political organisation - they’re fighting like ferrets in a sack.

“You’ve seen a candidate saying Nigel Farage is deplorable, we know Malcolm Offord cannot stand some of them, and Thomas Kerr cannot stand some of them.

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“Graham Simpson, for example, said Malcolm Offord is a useless leader, he’s terrible, and is very apologetic about the racist ads they’re running against me.

“He said Thomas Kerr is a weasel.

“He tried to get my phone number - I refused to give it, because I want nothing to do with these people, I think they’re deplorable and I want them to get hammered.”

A party source then said the conversation happened in a public area of the Scottish Parliament a couple of weeks before it broke up for Easter recess.

Mr Simpson denies this conversation ever happened.

He told The Scotsman: “That is absolute nonsense, that is disgraceful to say

“I have had conversations with Anas Sarwar in which he has said we need to work together after the election, and he has said that to me on several occasions.

“I have never, ever said anything like that about any colleague. It is disgusting for Anas Sarwar to say, I am absolutely appalled.

“I actually thought Anas Sarwar was a friend and for him to say stuff like that I will have to reconsider that.”

Mr Simpson then told The Scotsman Mr Sarwar had in fact asked for his number.

He said: “[Mr Sarwar]said we need to work together to get rid of the SNP and he said this to me several times in parliament and he said we didn’t have each other’s phone numbers so I went to his office and gave them my phone number.

“He has got my phone number but I don’t have his.”

During Mr Sarwar’s speech to the STUC conference, he explicitly said a vote for Scottish Labour is “not an endorsement of Keir Starmer”.

Earlier this year Mr Sarwar dramatically called for the Prime Minister to resign over the Peter Mandelson scandal. His speech in Dundee almost directly overlapped with Sir Keir’s appearance in the House of Commons where he was questioned on Mandelson’s security vetting.

Mr Sarwar said: “Every day of this election campaign, John Swinney has talked about a government somewhere else, not the issues affecting people here and now.

“He’s been desperately trying to deflect from the SNP’s record in government that he has been at the heart of for two decades.”

He added: “I will always be proud of the fact that Scotland led the way in getting rid of a Tory government that did so much damage to this country for 14 years.

“But I also know that people have frustrations and disappointments, and I share them.

“There have been many good things, but also too many mistakes.

“So let me be clear - a vote for Scottish Labour in this election is not an endorsement of Keir Starmer. It’s about who is First Minister.

“It’s not about two years of a Labour government, but 20 years of an SNP government.

“It’s not about protest, it’s about delivering the change that working people in Scotland need right now, because for far too long Scotland has been focused on what we can’t do rather than what is possible.”

He then told journalists the Prime Minister “has questions to answer” over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador. It is reported that he failed security vetting and had this overturned by the Foreign Office. Sir Olly Robbins, the chief civil servant in the Foreign Office, has since been sacked.

This comes weeks after Mr Sarwar called on the Prime Minister to resign over the Mandelson scandal.

Speaking in Dundee on Monday, he said: “There are questions he has to answer, but I have not been subject to any of the conversations in the lead-up to the appointment of Peter Mandelson.

“But Peter Mandelson should never have been considered.

“My interest is not what it means for politicians in Westminster, I am only interested in the people of Scotland.”