Acting leader Rowley asked to ‘consider his own position’

Alex Rowley has rejected calls to stand down as Scottish Labour’s acting leader despite implicating himself in a plot to oust his predecessor.

The interim boss, who vowed to be neutral in the leadership race, also revealed his support for the candidate Richard Leonard during the private conversation, which was secretly recorded at Labour conference.

It has led to calls from within the party for him to “consider his own position”.

Asked after First Minister’s Questions if he can stay on as interim leader, he said: “I intend to do that.”

He also lamented the Scottish Sun’s public airing of the exchange that he had with a political activist and student at the Brighton gathering.

“I believe that to be a private conversation and the point is that I now need to move on and get on with what I am doing,” he added.

“We have a party that wants to unite, we have a membership that wants us to get on with the job in hand and that’s what we all need to do.

“We need to pull together have this election and move forward.”

During FMQs, Nicola Sturgeon was stopped in her tracks when she was waxing lyrical about Labour divisions.

Responding to a question from Mr Leonard about bus passes, she said: “We fight for Scotland, Scottish Labour just fights amongst themselves.”

When she tried to bring in the public spat between Jackie Baillie, the senior Labour MSP who backs Anas Sarwar, and Mr Leonard, she was brought to task by the presiding officer.

Ken Macintosh, the presiding officer, said: “First Minister, the question is about nationalisation.”

Earlier, Gemma Doyle, the former Labour MP, accused Mr Rowley of a long-term campaign of “undermining” Kezia Dugdale, who quit as leader last month.

She told the BBC: “I really think he needs to consider his position.”

At FMQs, Mr Rowley called on the FM to consider bringing in rent controls, saying bills had “shot up” despite bearing “no relation to the condition and values of properties”.

The Scottish Government will “always consider” if more action needs to be taken to curb rents in the private sector, the SNP leader said.

Alex Rowley was secretly recorded implicating himself.