Exclusive:Scottish Labour 'firebrand' Brian Leishman on why Sir Keir Starmer should apologise, and Jeremy Corbyn's party

It is not your standard political backstory. Until just a few years ago, Brian Leishman was a golf professional, including a stint at the luxurious Gleneagles resort in Perthshire where he coached A-list celebrities such as John Travolta, Gerard Butler and Shakira.

He is now one of Scottish Labour's highest-profile MPs, with a reputation as a left-wing firebrand unafraid to speak his mind and take his own party’s leadership to task. On Tuesday, he was one of 49 Labour MPs to rebel against the Government's welfare reforms.

"I don't know about firebrand," Mr Leishman told The Scotsman from his constituency office in Alloa. "My politics is described as left-wing, but I would say, to be honest with you, I would describe it as common-sense stuff."

The Alloa and Grangemouth MP said he is amazed by the lack of debate about class in Westminster. "For me, all the societal problems that we've got are class issues," he said. “We see gross inequality.”

He is scathing about his party's benefits reforms. Sir Keir Starmer was forced to make major last-minute concessions to avoid a humiliating defeat on Tuesday, but Mr Leishman wants the entire Bill scrapped.

He also wants the Prime Minister to apologise to disabled and vulnerable people.

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"It was messy, and I would say it is certainly no way to govern a country and legislate, that's the important thing," he said. "We've seen chaos with the Tories over Brexit and over a whole host of other things. It doesn't paint Parliament in a good light.

"The Prime Minister can still emerge out of this with credit, if he were to acknowledge he's made a mistake, apologise to the disabled and vulnerable community - the disabled community that have been so terrified at these potential changes - and actually withdraw the Bill.”

He said Sir Keir should go back to the drawing board and "get round the table with key stakeholders" such as disability charities. Mr Leishman argued apologising would be a sign of strength.

"No one is ever expecting a Government or a Prime Minister or whoever to be perfect,” he added. “If anyone wants perfection, they are hoping for something that they will never, ever get.”

He continued: “We’re talking about legislation that is going to impact millions of people. It’s going to have huge, life-changing consequences for people. There’s nothing wrong with saying, right, OK, maybe I need to take a step back here, and actually go again.”

Mr Leishman said the UK Labour government’s first 12 months have damaged the chances of Scottish party leader Anas Sarwar winning the Holyrood election in May.

"Last summer, when we got elected a year ago, I'm sure all the bookies fancied we were going to have a Labour Government in Holyrood,” he said. "I would say the first 12 months of the Labour Government in Westminster, we've damaged and weakened Anas's chances.

"So I would say that it's all to play for, what, ten months out? But if we're better in Westminster, we'll improve his chances of getting elected in Holyrood. His wagon is hitched to us. If we do better in Westminster, we improve his chances in Holyrood."

The breakaway party

Mr Leishman joined Labour in 2016, when Jeremy Corbyn was leader. "I was listening to the leadership at the time, and I thought, this is speaking to who I am politically,” he recalled. He described the 2017 and 2019 election manifestos as “phenomenal”.

Mr Corbyn, of course, has since been expelled from Labour. He is now in talks over the creation of a new left-wing political force that could challenge his old party at the ballot box.

Coventry South MP Zarah Sultana, who had the Labour whip suspended last year, said on Thursday she was quitting Sir Keir’s party and would “co-lead the founding of a new party” with Mr Corbyn.

The former Labour leader and independent MP from Islington North insisted on Friday that “real change is coming” in a “new kind of political party” with “democratic foundations”. There are plans to build the movement from the grassroots up, by bringing together left-wing independents across the country.

Mr Leishman is full of praise for the pair, but insisted he is a “proud” Labour Party member. "I've got an enormous amount of respect for them both,” he said.

“What I would say is, my first reaction is that it's very sad that there's not room in the Labour Party for Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana.

"Jeremy has dedicated his life to the Labour movement, and to the protection and the advancement of the working class, not just in this country, but he's been fantastic on foreign issues as well. 

"I would say that Zarah has been a phenomenal member of Parliament. She is an absolute whirlwind, a driving force, again, for working-class communities.

"She's a credit to the Labour movement, and it's very, very sad that the pair of them are not in the Labour Party. I think there should always be room for people like Jeremy and Zarah in the Labour Party.

"In regard to joining another party, it's not entered my head. I'm a Labour Party member. I'm a proud Labour Party member."

He said there needed to be more internal democracy and "tolerance" for different views within the party.

Pushed on whether he had been approached about a new left-wing party, Mr Leishman said: "I've not had anyone approach me. There's been no discussion about me joining any other political party."

On a Labour collision course

Welfare reform is far from the only issue to put him on a collision course with the Labour leadership.

Earlier this year, he said he was "disgusted" by his party’s broken promises on the Grangemouth oil refinery, which ceased processing crude oil in April. He has also backed the Waspi [Women Against State Pension Inequality] women in their fight for compensation.

But Mr Leishman said the UK Labour government has also done some "fantastic" things, pointing to examples such as boosting workers' rights. "Those things, they're terrific,” he said. “I just want to see more of them."

He is critical of his party for “aping” the language of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, and highlighted Sir Keir’s speech about immigration in May in which he said the UK risked becoming "an island of strangers".

Mr Leishman said: "When it comes to 'island of strangers' and comments like that, he admits he was wrong on that, and that's quite right, because you know what, I find that language pretty appalling to be honest. We should not be aping Reform."

He said Labour should instead set out exactly what it stands for. "We've got to say, this is who we are, this is what we believe in, this is what we stand for, and take people on that,” he said. “That's strong leadership, for me.

"That's got to come from the top in both Scottish Labour, but also down in Westminster as well. We've got to nail our colours to the mast and say this is who we are, this is what we are, this is what we believe, and give people that choice.”

Mr Leishman said Labour amplifies Reform “far too much”, adding: “When I go to Prime Minister's Questions, the amount of times that 'the honourable member for Clacton' [Mr Farage] gets mentioned in a derogatory manner, he sits and laughs."

He continued: "How much airtime do they [Reform] get for five MPs? An incredible amount. We amplify that by mentioning them.

"Now, what we need to do is instead of trying to paint somebody else as some sort of bogeyman, how about actually let's just try and improve things ourselves.

"Let's concentrate on ourselves. Let's get our house in order and let's actually positively change society, instead of pointing the finger at anybody else."

‘Very concerned’ for Scottish Labour

Mr Leishman said he was "very concerned" that Scottish Labour could be heading for defeat at next year's Holyrood election.

"We've got to be awake, and we've got to be alert and alive to Reform, but let's concentrate on ourselves,” he said. “Let's get our own house in order and let's actually deliver a proper change for people."

Asked if he is satisfied with Mr Sarwar’s leadership of Scottish Labour, Mr Leishman pauses for a couple of seconds before giving the answer quoted above about the UK government damaging and weakening his position.

But he is also critical of some of the Scottish party’s messaging. "What I would be saying is, let's talk less about quangos,” he said. “Because in all the years that I've been out door-knocking and knocked thousands of doors, how many times do you think the word quango has come up on the doorstep? Zero."

Mr Sarwar has promised to “strip back the number of quangos”, arguing there are too many public bodies in Scotland.

Mr Leishman said the focus needs to be on “big ticket” issues, such as the NHS and public services.

“I want to see in the next ten months, how do we manifestly improve folks’ lives?” he said. “And if we can come up with a good plan in our manifesto and great messaging on that, and say ‘right, this is how we’re going to improve your lives’, I think we could win.”