POLITICS certainly run in the blood of Scottish politician Anas Sarwar. Youngest of four children of veteran British-Pakistani politician Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar, has been spearheading Scottish Labour Party for almost two years now and as political commentators put it- is just might be next first minister.
Sarwar took the role at Scottish Labour Party following the abrupt resignation Richard Leonard – the left-winger whom he lost for the top role in 2017. He thereby became the first non-white as well as the first Muslim leader of a major political party in the UK.
And now with approaching elections and wave of change in the air in Scotland seemingly in the favour of Labour government, Sarwar is regularly being counted among potential first minister at the next general election.
In fact, it is said that Sarwar began his political career at a very young age of “nine or 19” by campaigning for his father. He formally joined Labour Party at the age of 15.
Sarwar was selected as the Labour candidate for Glasgow Central in the 2010 general election- a seat that his father had retired from in February 2007. In December 2011, he was elected as deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party receiving majority votes.
Following the resignation of Richard Leonard in 2021, Sarwar was elected as leader of the Scottish Labour Party. In this role, he pledged to reduce poverty and inequality in Scotland as part of his policy solutions apart from bringing back unity to a party which was dogged by internal warfare for years at the time.
Sarwar has always been very vocal about ethnic minorities’ rights and equal opportunities. He often puts the spotlight on the ‘chronic under-representation’ of minority workers in Scotland’s public sector, calling for a “change in culture” in order for the public sector to fully reflect the Scottish society.
He is married to Furheen Sarwar, who works as an NHS dentist. His brothers, Athif and Asim, manage the wholesale business, United Wholesale (Scotland), established by their father.
In a recent interview, Sarwar described how verbal abuse, threats of violence, prejudice and racism have been everyday fabric of his family’s life at one point of time owing to his father’s political life and ideologies.
Sarwar’s next phase of the plan is to bring a UK Labour government. In his words, his eyes “are firmly on the prize of the 2026 Scottish Parliament election”.
