Sarwar allies seeking to justify Starmer attack say he could still face leadership challenge
Scottish Labour sources have sought to justify’s Anas Sarwar’s risky decision to call on Keir Starmer to resign by arguing a challenge to his leadership could still materialise,Sarwar’s public denunciation of Starmer on Monday afternoon sent shock waves through the government but also alarmed Labour politicians in the Scottish parliament, who fear the Scottish Labour leader’s intervention was mistimed,One source said it was clear at Westminster on Monday that no potential challenger to Starmer was ready to move, as No 10 acted quickly to shore up the prime minister’s position by successfully urging cabinet ministers to publicly back him,“It’s a very high-risk strategy,You’ve got to succeed.
It didn’t,” said one senior figure at Holyrood.Another said there were clear questions whether Sarwar’s timing was right, given it appeared to voters he had been left isolated.That raised short-term challenges for Scottish Labour’s credibility, with the latest polls showing the party is languishing in third place behind the Scottish National party and Reform UK, with only 12 weeks until May’s Holyrood election, they said.Both agreed, however, that Starmer days as prime minister seemed numbered.“Anas said out loud what everybody else has been thinking and saying privately.
”Sarwar’s closest allies said it was “nonsense” to suggest they expected his intervention was designed to trigger an immediate rebellion at Westminster, but said there was a clear sense Starmer would soon face a challenge, and a suspicion that further revelations about Jeffrey Epstein or Peter Mandelson could emerge.“There are people in the cabinet and Westminster who want to run,” said one senior source.“The place has been buzzing on this for weeks now.It has crystallised recently and I would give it to the end of this week to see what happens.I’m not convinced there will be a reset moment.
”Sarwar and his team were furious, allies said, that some of Starmer’s internal rivals believed it was sufficient to wait for Labour’s defeats in the Scottish, Welsh and English local government elections to challenge him,“We’ve worked very very hard [to win],” they said,“We’re not going to be a sacrificial lamb because people haven’t got the gumption to say to Keir you’ve got to go now,”They said voters on their doorsteps were repeatedly mentioning the Epstein and Mandelson scandal, the failure to compensate the “Waspi women”, the cost of living crisis, and the cutting of benefits for disabled people,Those crises were “drowning out” all Scottish Labour’s successes in challenging the SNP government in Edinburgh, including over the deaths of children at a new hospital in Glasgow, leaving Labour facing a humiliating defeat in May.
“We’re just saying what everyone is saying quietly out loud, because we don’t have time to waste,” said a senior source.Douglas Alexander, the Scottish secretary in Starmer’s cabinet, portrayed the rift as a dispute between two people “who have strong and clear opinions, but who do not bear grudges”, as he sought to dampen the controversy.Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland, Alexander likened it to the conflict between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown during the New Labour years and said he had been acting as peacemaker.“I’ve spoken to the prime minister in the last few hours.I’ve spoken to Anas, and I can tell you sincerely and authentically that there is a willingness to work together,” Alexander said.
“Keir Starmer was on the phone to me yesterday evening making very clear he remains determined that Anas Sarwar is the first minister of Scotland after May.Equally, Anas is clear that he has set out his position, he will work hard to take the fight to the SNP in the coming months.”
BT replaces Openreach boss in latest management shake-up
The head of BT’s infrastructure arm, Openreach, is to step down after nearly a decade, having almost completed a £12bn rollout of full fibre broadband to 25m homes.Clive Selley, who was tasked by the former BT chief Philip Jansen to “build like fury” to address the UK’s status as global laggard in the introduction of high-speed broadband, will become the boss of BT’s international division.Selley is being replaced by his deputy, Katie Milligan, who will decide on whether to further expand the fibre network to 30m homes by 2030.The change in management is the latest in a shake-up by Allison Kirkby, BT’s first female boss, who has changed 10 of the 11 members of the telecoms group’s executive committee since she took over in February 2024.After joining in 2016, Selley was tasked with upgrading the ageing Openreach network, which provides broadband across the UK, to full fibre
BP halts share buy-backs as annual profits slide
BP has halted share buybacks after reporting weaker annual profits as it prepares to continue a plan to resuscitate its fortunes under a new chief executive.The company became the first large oil company to suspend its buybacks after its underlying earnings fell to just below $7.5bn (£5.5bn) for 2025, down from almost $9bn for 2024.Oil companies have reported weaker profits over the last year after global prices fell for a third consecutive year and at the steepest rate since the Covid pandemic
Telstra joint venture to axe more than 200 jobs amid AI rollout
More than 200 Telstra jobs are expected to be cut, as the telco rolls out AI capabilities and sends some jobs to India.Telstra and the technology consultancy Accenture announced a $700m joint venture (JV) in 2025 to drive efficiency, modernisation and productivity.A JV spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday that the team had been notified “about proposed changes to its workforce, including reducing roles where work is no longer needed, and moving some work to the JV team in India”.If the changes proceed, the spokesperson said, affected team members would be helped to find new jobs either at Telstra or at Accenture, or have “access to our leading career transition program and retrenchment benefits”.Sign up: AU Breaking News email“These changes would see the JV use Accenture’s global capabilities, advanced AI expertise and specialist hub in India to deliver Telstra’s data and AI roadmap more quickly
Europeans shunning US as Emirates and Asia travel prove popular, says Tui
Europeans are booking fewer trips to the US, Europe’s biggest travel operator has said, as appetite for long-haul travel wanes and concerns linger around Donald Trump’s immigration policies.Tui, which receives most of its bookings from customers in Europe, has seen “significantly lower demand” for travel into the US, according to its chief executive, Sebastian Ebel.“What we do see is growing business to the Emirates and Asia,” he said. “We also see European demand to the Caribbean, which – due to capacity – had not been the biggest priority in the past, but there we see now potential again to grow.”It comes amid signs that demand for long-haul travel across the Atlantic is waning
NatWest is chasing the mass affluent wallet. So is everyone else | Nils Pratley
Announce a £2.7bn acquisition and watch your stock market value fall by £3.1bn.NatWest picked a bad day to announce its big move in the fashionable field of “wealth management” – the noise from Westminster created a poor backdrop for UK assets such as gilts and domestic banks. But the main problem with its Evelyn Partners deal is that it is very much of the “one for the long term” variety
Rise in UK borrowing costs reverses after cabinet backs Starmer
UK borrowing costs dipped back on Monday after rising earlier in the day, as cabinet ministers voiced support for the embattled Keir Starmer.The yield, or interest rate, on UK benchmark bonds initially increased on Monday as traders reacted to Sunday’s resignation of the prime minister’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, over the decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington.Yields rose further after the Downing Street communications director, Tim Allan, resigned on Monday morning, with long-term borrowing costs then hitting their highest level since November, as the Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, called on Starmer to stand down as prime minister.With the Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, saying Starmer’s position was “untenable” after the departure of McSweeney, and the Green party leader, Zack Polanski, agreeing he should resign, the City of London was weighing up the prime minister’s survival chances, and assessing the impact of likely replacements on the public finances and the economy.At one stage, the yield on 10-year UK government debt rose by as much as 7 basis points (0
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