IN FEBRUARY this year, Anas Sarwar took to the stage at the Scottish Labour conference with a declaration that would set the tone for his boldest political gamble yet.
“I am standing to be Scotland’s first minister,” he proclaimed, his voice steady, his ambition clear. “I am determined that we will defy the odds again and that we will win the election in 2026.”
For Sarwar, this was more than just rhetoric. It was a battle cry in the face of dwindling poll numbers and a political landscape increasingly hostile to Labour.
Months ago, he had led his party to a remarkable general election victory, securing 37 Scottish MPs. Yet, the glow of that triumph had faded fast. Unpopular decisions from Keir Starmer’s UK government – cuts to the winter fuel payment and the refusal to compensate the Waspi women – had cost Scottish Labour dearly.
Polls now suggested the party was trailing the SNP by a significant margin. But Sarwar was no stranger to adversity.
Born in Glasgow in 1983, politics ran in his veins. The son of Mohammad Sarwar – the UK’s first Muslim MP – he grew up watching power being wielded up close. After training as a dentist, he entered Westminster in 2010, only to be swept away in the SNP landslide of 2015.
He then pivoted to Holyrood, where he clawed his way back, first as a regional MSP and then as Scottish Labour leader in 2021 – becoming the first person of colour to lead a major UK political party.
His 2025 conference speech was Sarwar at his most forceful. There was no hedging, no cautious triangulation. “The SNP cannot meet the challenges of today, never mind tomorrow,” he declared. “They are tired, divided, and out of ideas. After nearly two decades in power, they’ve had their chance.”
He promised radical changes – banning mobile phones in classrooms to restore discipline, launching the “largest housebuilding programme in decades” to tackle homelessness, and overhauling Scotland’s NHS.
As a former NHS dentist, this last issue was personal. “Fixing our NHS is in my DNA,” he said, vowing to declare a “national waiting times emergency” and slash bureaucracy by reducing Scotland’s health boards to just three.
But beneath the policy pledges lay a deeper political gamble. With Labour’s traditional support fracturing, Sarwar faced threats from both the left and right. Reform UK was rising, peeling off working-class voters disillusioned with mainstream politics. The Greens were securing the progressive vote.
And yet, Sarwar radiated confidence. A José Mourinho fan, he kept a montage of the football manager’s most defiant moments pinned in his office – a reminder that the odds can always be defied. “I’ve had to work hard every day for the last four years,” he said. “And I’m going to have to work hard every day to win the election in May 2026.”
The road ahead is treacherous. But if Anas Sarwar had learned anything from his political journey, it was that underdogs sometimes win.
