Despite racist threats and abuse,Sarwar left his job as a dentist in 2010 to enter the world of politics, winning the same Westminster seat as his father in an election in which the Labour party lost power after 13 years to a Tory-Liberal Democrat coalition.
His time as an MP also brought with it leadership responsibilities, with Sarwar elected to be deputy leader of Scottish Labour from 2011 to 2014, as well as the job of coordinating the party’s campaign during the independence referendum.
He would also serve as acting leader following the resignation of Johann Lamont in 2014.
In 2015, he lost his seat to the Scottish National party’s Alison Thewliss as the party swept Scotland, winning all but one of the constituencies north of the border.
The following year, he was elected to Holyrood on the Glasgow regional list, and just more than 12 months later would be fighting his first leadership election, taking on the eventual winner, Richard Leonard, who polled 56.7% of the vote.
Since his loss, Sarwar has been the party’s health spokesperson – before an acrimonious sacking by Leonard which he claimed to have heard about through social media – and most recently as constitution spokesperson, as well as campaigning for an inquiry into issues at the Queen Elizabeth university hospital in Glasgow.