Anas Sarwar has called on Jeremy Corbyn to apologise for the hurt caused by the anti-semitism row when he was Labour leader.
Sarwar said Corbyn should say sorry after one of his left-wing MSPs demanded the exiled left-winger have the whip restored at Westminster.
The Scottish Labour leader also praised former Prime Minister Labour “achievements” in office after he was awarded a knighthood.
Corbyn’s four year leadership of Labour was dogged by the party’s response to anti-semitism by members.
The low point was when an equalities watchdog's investigation into anti-semitism found the party responsible for unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination.
Corbyn, who lost two general elections as leader, was suspended after claiming the problem had been “dramatically overstated for political reasons by our opponents inside and outside the party”.
The suspension was lifted, but the whip has not been reinstated.
On the day before Sarwar made his first major speech of 2022, left wing MSP Mercedes Villalba tweeted: “Jeremy Corbyn is a Labour Party member and should have the whip restored to him immediately.”
At a media briefing, Sarwar was asked about Villalba’s call. “The reality is that that is an internal disciplinary process,” he said:
“And we've got to reflect on the impact that the anti-semitism row had - it's more than a row - had on communities across the country.
“I have been spending a lot of time speaking to the Jewish community here in Scotland, and I've heard directly about the pain and the anguish that that whole episode caused, and I am working to rebuild our relationship with all our communities across Scotland, including the Jewish community.”
He added: “I would much prefer that those responsible for the pain apologise directly, reflected on their positions, removed posts that I think are unhelpful.”
Asked if he believed Corbyn should apologise, Sarwar said: “Yes. I think that's the least that anyone that has caused pain or hurt should do in that situation.”
On Blair, Sarwar said of the man who won three general elections as Labour leader:
“Knighthoods are not made by me. Clearly former prime ministers do get awarded knighthoods typically.
"And whilst I vociferously disagreed with Tony Blair on the Iraq war in particular, what we can't deny is that we had a UK Labour government that did transform people's lives here in the UK.
“That halved child poverty, that tripled spending on the National Health Service, that helped us rebuild and renew most schools across the country and helped create the Scottish Parliament.”
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