Since Guido’s morning story on Shadow Northern Ireland PPS Kate Osborne, more and more Labour frontbenchers are breaking rank by joining their comrades on the picket lines. Probably encouraged by the news that the Chief Whip might not bother disciplining them anyway…

Guido will keep a rolling list updated throughout the day. Here are the frontbenchers who’ve railed against Sir Keir so far…

• Shadow Northern Ireland PPS Kate Osborne
• Shadow Defence PPS Paula Barker
• Opposition Whip Navendu Mishra
• Shadow Minister for Nature, Water and Flooding Alex Sobel

This is an outright test of Starmer’s authority. Plenty of socialist backbenchers like Zarah Sultana are also out on the picket lines – that’s not really a surprise. The fact that even Rayner and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar are sticking their necks out – though Rayner hasn’t actually joined the picket line… yet – is a serious problem for LOTO. Stay tuned…

There’s no shortage of Labour politicians looking to bust a few moves on-camera nowadays. Last week it was Sarah Owen, this week it’s Anas Sarwar. Appearing alongside Matt Forde for a live edition of The Political Party podcast, Sarwar ended the show with a star-making shimmy for the pleasure of the packed audience. While Owen might’ve removed her dance video from TikTok, Sarwar was more than happy to give the crowd a show. Guido tips his hat… 

The Scottish leaders’ hustings debate predictably descended into chaos last night, after Douglas Ross and Nicola Sturgeon clashed over the speed and efficiency of Scotland’s vaccine rollout. An incensed Sturgeon continuing to insist that an independent Scotland could buy vaccines alongside the UK, despite previously criticising Whitehall’s decision to break from the EU’s procurement programme: 

“The UK chose to procure in the way that it did, and you’re saying it couldn’t have done that and Scotland couldn’t have chosen to do that with the other UK nations had we been a member of the EU. That is quite simply not true […] We procured the vaccine the same way we procure the flu vaccine and you don’t have to tell me how many people are being vaccinated with the first dose […] stop talking down our vaccination programme for political purposes, it is disgraceful to seek to do that.”

Attempting to play the adult in the room, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar then chimed in with “what a great example to the children and young people across the country, this is […] fantastic.” At least it was entertaining…

The dust is settling following the brutal ousting of hopeless Scottish Labour Leader Richard Leonard at the end of last week. Even as questions swirl around Leonard’s donor-engineered resignation, two leading candidates have emerged.

• Anas Sarwar (Constitution spokesman)
  • Blairite candidate. Multi-millionaire. Sends kids to private school. Runner up in the last leadership election. Despite attracting the most MSP nominations, Sarwar lost the membership vote to Richard Leonard by 9,516 to 12,469. Now the man who couldn’t beat the man who resigned for being too unpopular seeks to re-popularise his party…
  • Readers may remember Sarwar as the man who touched his microphone while pleading for others to not touch their microphones. He also once sent out an email saying “we should redistribute wealth from the many to the few”. Oops.
• Monica Lennon (Health and Sport Spokesperson)
  • Left-wing candidate. Abstained on independence referendum vote. Successfully campaigned for councils to be obligated to provide tax funded menstrual hygiene products. Close to Richard Leonard. Definitely the left of the SNP. Lennon suffers from ailurophobia, an irrational fear of cats.
  • Once said she would “like to go back to the 1960s.” No relation to John.

And there’s another name that keeps floating around…

• Gordon Brown (Former Prime Minister)
  • Dark horse. Some in Scottish Labour have been urging Brown to step up as the party’s only big beast left. He won’t. Though he has been stepping back into the fray with his new think tank “Our Scottish Future”, which has pointed out failures in the SNP’s coronavirus response. Not another Scottish Labour leader, yet perhaps he is gearing up to be a less partisan figure in the constitutional debate…

Amazing scenes in Holyrood earlier as Labour MSP Anas Sarwar, carrying out his role as a committee convenor, asked members to comply with Covid-prevention rules and avoid touching their microphones… as he actively adjusted his mic. Guido’s used to seeing Labour MPs follow the mantra of ‘do as I say but not as I do’ – rarely is it performed in real-time…