Exclusive:Suspended Scottish Labour MP Brian Leishman 'has not spoken to Anas Sarwar in months'
The MP said he would ‘stand by everything that I’ve said and I’ve done in the last 12 months’.
The Scottish Labour MP suspended for repeatedly voting against the government has revealed he hasn’t spoken to Anas Sarwar in “months and months and months” as he vowed to “stand by everything I’ve said and done”.
Brian Leishman, the MP for Alloa and Grangemouth, has warned that the Labour party under Sir Keir Starmer, must not be afraid to thrash out “internal debates” and remain a broad church of views.
The MP, who was temporarily suspended pending a review to take place later this year, has been told he broke the whip 12 times.
Dianne Abbot has become the fifth Labour MP to be suspended this week - with the veteran politician losing the whip over allegations of racism, after doubling down on comments she had previously apologised for.
Speaking to The Scotsman, Mr Leishman said he has not spoken to the Scottish Labour leader in months, despite him constantly irritating party bosses in the 12 months since becoming an MP. But he insisted he will fully support Mr Sarwar’s campaign to become first minister at next year’s Holyrood election.
Asked if Mr Sarwar has discussed his behaviour, Mr Leishman said: “I haven’t spoken to Anas or with Anas in months and months and months.”
Pressed over whether he will still campaign for Scottish Labour at next year's election and if he backed Mr Sarwar to take the party forward, he said: “Anas Sarwar is the best leader out of any of the political parties to be first minister.
“I’ll be out trying to get great candidates selected and get Anas into Bute House.”
Mr Leishman said he had been left “really emotional” by the suspension, but stressed “there’s been an awful lot of messages of support and solidarity from parliamentary colleagues”.
He added: “I love the party. I didn’t want to lose the whip. I want the whip back. But I stand by everything that I’ve said and I’ve done in the last 12 months. I don’t think I’ve been wrong.
“That means on Grangemouth, we should have done more. Anas stood on the tele and said what he said”.
During the election campaign, Mr Sarwar vowed a Labour UK government “would step in and put our money where our mouth is and invest … and step in to save the jobs at the refinery”.
Harnessing the words of Labour legend Ton Benn, Mr Leishman insisted that "you've got to have socialist voices” in the party.
He added: “You’ve got to have that element of internal party democracy. You’ve got to have those internal debates. Then you’ve got to try and build a consensus for the benefit of the country. And you’ve got to listen to backbench MPs as well in that regard.
“We do have people with different political views in the Labour party. But we’ve got to listen to all these views.”
Rumours have circulated that Mr Leishman could be poised to join a breakaway part set up by Zarah Sultana and Jeremy Corbyn.
Mr Leishman said that while the pair have “been absolutely wonderful to me personally” and “a font of knowledge”, he would “wish them well in their new endeavour” but insisted “my home is in the Labour party”.
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