Billionaire donors to Scottish Labour are backing Anas Sarwar remaining as party leader despite it suffering its worst election result since devolution.
The Herald can reveal today that Sandy and James Easdale, who saw their wealth rise to £1.47 billion in this year's Sunday Times Rich List, gave Scottish Labour £300,000 this year to support the party's Holyrood election campaign.
The Scottish Labour leader and his deputy Jackie Baillie have faced calls to stand down by some figures in their party following the May 7 election when it lost five seats to tie in second place with Reform UK's 17 and see the SNP return to power for a record fifth term in power with 58 seats.
But the two Easdale brothers have said that Mr Sarwar and Ms Baillie should continue in their roles - though issued a warning to the UK party which has been thrown into chaos and a potential leadership election by the devastating results in local elections in England as well as for the Scottish and Welsh parliamentary elections.
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Sandy Easdale told The Herald: “My brother James and I continue to support Anas Sarwar without hesitation. Yes, we are disappointed at Labour’s performance in the Scottish elections but we have their Westminster colleagues to thank for that. They need to get their act together quickly or Scottish Labour, and Scotland, will continue to suffer."
James Easdale added: “We like Anas and we like the fact that he had a life before politics. Not only was he highly educated and a successful dentist but his family background gives him a profound understanding of business.
"In Jackie Baillie he has a deputy who is probably the most articulate and highly respected MSP we have seen in years."
Brian Leishman, Scottish Labour MP for Alloa and Grangemouth, earlier this week called for Ms Sarwar and Ms Baillie to resign after leading the party to its worst ever Holyrood election result.
He said they should both be held "accountable" for the party winning only 17 seats adding that Labour's election strategy was non-existent, criticising the "cult of personality" around Mr Sarwar and a lack of "radical" policies in its manifesto.
Mr Leishman also warned the party was facing "electoral oblivion" in Scotland after finishing 41 seats behind the SNP.
Speaking on BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show the Scottish Labour leader accepted his “fair share of the responsibility” for the result.
But he insisted “there was a national wave” against Labour saying: “You can see that right across every part of the United Kingdom.”
He had believed his party could repeat its success from the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election last year, where Labour had defied the polls to win.
Mr Sarwar said: “Of course we thought we could replicate what happened in Hamilton across the country, and ultimately we failed to do so.”
Labour failed to hold on to that Hamilton constituency in the election, and pressed on who was behind the strategy for the overall campaign, Mr Sarwar said: “I as leader take full responsibility for the strategy of the campaign.”
He insisted: “The reality, though, is we believed we could cut through the national noise, we had a campaign designed to try to cut through the national noise, but we failed to do so and ultimately that is why we got the result we did.”
Mr Sarwar broke ranks earlier this year to call for the Prime Minister to resign and they did not make a joint appearance during the campaign.
The latest Sunday Times Rich List listed Sandy and James Easdale as the fifth richest people in Scotland with wealth of £1.47bn.
The former Rangers directors Easdale brothers, from Greenock, built their fortune from their bus company as well as land and property acquisitions.
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