ANAS Sarwar has officially taken his seat in the House of Lords after being sworn in as "The Lord Sarwar".
The former Scottish Labour leader, who quit the Scottish Parliament after a crushing defeat at the May election, was given a peerage so that he could become a Trade Minister in Andy Burnham’s Government.
Sarwar served as MSP for the Glasgow region between 2016 and 2026, before he stood down triggering the ongoing Scottish Labour leadership election. His resignation came despite pledges never to join the House of Lords, and not to quit as Scottish Labour leader.
And now Sarwar has officially been introduced to the second chamber, draped in an ermine cloak.
When he was sworn into the House of Lords on Thursday morning, Sarwar said: "I, Anas, Lord Sarwar, do swear by Almighty God that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles, his heirs and successors, according to law, so help me God."
Sarwar will be known only as "Lord Sarwar", as there is not another peer with the same surname.
However, a notice in the Gazette stated that the King was “pleased” to confer a Barony for life upon “Anas Sarwar, by the name, style and title of Baron Sarwar, of Maxwell Park in the City of Glasgow”.
Sarwar had ruled out “ever” accepting a seat in the House of Lords ahead of the Holyrood 2026 election. But just months later, in July, Sarwar announced he would be doing so.
The move was seen as a reward from Burnham after Sarwar called for Keir Starmer to resign in February.
Sarwar tried to justify going back on his word in a statement claiming he took his “fair share of responsibility” for Scottish Labour’s election loss in May, their worst in the Scottish parliament’s history.
“As a team, we rebuilt and renewed the party, leading the way in removing the Tories from office, taking Scottish Labour from 1 Member of Parliament in 2019 to 37 in 2024,” he said at the time.
“And we always endeavoured to hold the Scottish Government to account and advocated for change in Scotland too. I am disappointed and sorry we couldn’t achieve a better outcome at the recent Scottish election. I take my fair share of responsibility for that.”
