I’ve sat in draughty community halls from Easterhouse to Maryhill for thirty years, and I’ve seen some shit in my time. I’ve seen the “vanguard” cults try to hijack local strikes and the middle-class “missionaries” come into our schemes to lecture us on solidarity before jumping into a taxi back to their Bearsden bungalows and West End flats. I’ve seen criminals get on the political gravy train, pretending they are the voice of the people. But what I’m seeing from Scottish Labour today makes my skin crawl.
If you want to know where the script for today’s headlines was written, don’t look at a trade union hall. Look at a hotel in Washington D.C., around 2017.
The 2017 Playbook
Back in 2017, at the Values Voter Summit, the far right stopped pretending they cared about the economy and decided to focus on a new target. They realised that if they attacked the “T” in LGBTQ+, they could split the left, confuse the public, and win a “culture war” by framing themselves as “protectors.” One strategist, Meg Kilgannon, famously said the goal was to “divide and conquer.”
Big names at that conference included:
Donald Trump: He became the first sitting president to address the summit, signalling a major alliance between the White House and the groups pushing anti-trans policies.
Steve Bannon: Then the executive chairman of Breitbart News and a former White House strategist, Bannon spoke about a “war” against the Republican establishment.
Kellyanne Conway: Advisor to the President, she addressed the crowd to reinforce the administration’s commitment to “traditional values.”
Tony Perkins: The president of the Family Research Council and the host of the event. He has been one of the primary leaders in pivoting religious conservative focus toward transgender issues.
Sebastian Gorka: A former deputy assistant to the President known for his hardline nationalist views.
Michele Bachmann: The former Congresswoman and presidential candidate, who has long been a vocal opponent of LGBTQ+ rights.
Roy Moore: The former Chief Justice of Alabama, who was a “hero” to the summit’s attendees for his defiance of federal rulings on same-sex marriage and transgender issues.
Fast forward to today, Monday, 2 February 2026. Look at that creep, Anas Sarwar.
Sarwar’s Shameful U-Turn
The headlines today are a total riddy. Sarwar has fully leaned into the “biological sex” wedge, pledging to ban trans women from female prisons “within days” if he becomes First Minister. He’s standing there, slick as a car salesman, talking about “protecting women” while his party in London prepares to gut the very services – housing, healthcare, and community centres- that actually keep working-class women safe.
It’s the same old Labour game: talk like a Tory to win the “middle ground” while the folk in our schemes continue to struggle. Sarwar is now “regretting” his vote for gender reform, claiming he was misled by the SNP. Pull the other one, Anas; it’s got bells on. He isn’t “protecting” anyone; he’s doing exactly what the 2017 far-right conference planned. He’s using a vulnerable minority as a human shield to hide the fact that Scottish Labour has absolutely no plan for Scotland other than “Westminster says so.” Just remember, Scotland was leading the world on human rights when it proposed making LGBTIQ+ people’s lives a bit easier. Sarwar is allowing Unionism, Reform, and the billionaire far right a win in Scotland.
The Westminster Roadblock
This is why the Union is a stagnant pond. We are tied to a party that takes its orders from Keir Starmer, a man who wouldn’t know a socialist principle if it hit him in the face. This is a man who campaigned on abolishing the Lords and, rather than using his power to get rid of this rancid boys’ club, is quietly asking the Lords themselves to reform just to get rid of that snake Mandelson. It is like asking turkeys to vote for Christmas. Labour have spent the last year purging the left and now they’re coming for our rights to distract from the fact that they’ve kept the Tory two-child cap and the bedroom tax. They are following the 2017 “divide and conquer” strategy to the letter, hoping we won’t notice that the “change” they promised is just a slightly more polite version of the same austerity.
They think we’re stupid. They think the working class in Scotland is a monolith of “traditional values” that will cheer for this bigotry. They’ve confused the actual working class with the caricature they see in the right-wing press.
The Prince of Darkness and the Paedophile’s Payroll
If you want to see how deep the “Red Tory” rot goes, look no further than the aforementioned little shit, Lord Mandelson. He is the man who practically invented the slick, hollowed-out soul of modern Labour. As of today, 2 February 2026, Mandelson has finally been forced to resign from the party, but only after the latest US Department of Justice document dump made his position impossible. The files suggest that while he was our Business Secretary in 2009, he wasn’t just “best pals” with the child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein; he was allegedly acting as a high-level mole. The documents appear to show Mandelson forwarding confidential UK government papers on tax policy and asset sales to Epstein, even promising he was “trying hard” to change government policy on bankers’ bonuses at the paedophile’s request. And the cherry on this rancid cake? Bank statements in the file reportedly show three payments of £18,000 flowing from Epstein’s accounts to Mandelson’s circle. It’s the ultimate nightmare: a shadowy, unelected elite trading our state secrets for thirty pieces of silver while they lecture the working class on “morality” and “wedge issues.”
The Bottom Line
Scottish Labour is no longer a vehicle for the working class. It’s a franchise for a London-based corporate management team. By turning trans rights into a wedge issue, they are trying to break the back of the progressive movement that helped fuel the drive for independence. They want us fighting each other so we don’t look at the rot in the system they’re desperate to preserve.
In the upcoming elections I really only have three choices in Scotland, and I’ll be campaigning for all of them while shouting at them to work better with the working class: SNP, SSP, and Greens. Fuck the rest. Forget that diddy Sheridan and his Temu bought Alba Party. Forget Labour and forget Reform, Lib Dems, Tories, and the rest.
How to Get Involved: Follow the Money, Fight the Power
The Red Tories are being bankrolled by the same forces that want to dismantle the welfare state and privatise our NHS. We can’t let them use a culture war to hide their bank balance.
Audit the Donors: Use the Electoral Commission website to look up who is funding your local MP or MSP. If they’re taking money from Tufton Street-linked donors, bring it up at the next branch meeting.
Support the “Good Law Project”: They are one of the few groups actually challenging the “dark money” think tanks in court. Follow their work to see how these groups funnel money into UK politics.
Keep it Local: The best antidote to their “divide and conquer” strategy is local solidarity. When the “missionaries” come to your scheme to talk about “biological reality,” ask them what their plan is for the damp housing and the food bank queues.
Don’t Agitate, Organise
If you’re as scunnered as I am, don’t waste your energy screaming at Sarwar on Twitter. He’s not listening; he’s waiting for his next set of talking points from a focus group.
Build the “Congress of the Left”: We need a network that connects pro-independence socialists, community unions, and LGBTQ+ activists without the “leadership” of a central party office.
Reclaim the Trades Councils: Don’t let the careerists run the show. Get into your local Trades Council and demand that they stand in solidarity with all workers, including our trans comrades.
Support Living Rent: Focus on the material reality. While Labour plays culture war games, people are being evicted. Join a local community union like Living Rent and build power in your postcode.
The Red Tories are using the far-right’s playbook. It’s time we showed them that Scotland isn’t interested in their divided house.
They want a war of identity; we give them a war of class.
Indybag uses ai to help with punctuation
