10:35

Richard Leonard, the Scottish Labour leadership contender backed by Jeremy Corbyn supporters, has chastised members of his own team and those of his rival Anas Sarwar after a bruising spat between the two camps.

Leonard urged his supporters to “conduct the campaign in a spirit of comradeship” and “as the proponents of hope and change” after both sides exchanged abuse and counter-accusations against each other on Wednesday.

The dispute erupted after Alex Rowley, Scottish Labour’s interim leader, was recorded telling delegates at Labour conference in Brighton that he backed Leonard and that left-wingers in the Scottish party had long wanted to replace Kezia Dugdale, who stood down suddenly last month.

The dispute, which erupted while Corbyn was commending Scottish Labour for its unity in his conference speech, has vented long-standing tensions between the party’s centrists and its Corbynites over policy and their loyalty to the UK leader.

In a transcript published in full by the Sun, Rowley told two delegates: “Although I’m neutral in the leadership, I believed that Richard Leonard has everything that we need to win in 2021.”

Rowley’s neutrality as acting leader was questioned after he appeared to set up Sarwar up for ridicule by Nicola Sturgeon at first minister’s questions last week over Sarwar’s use of private schools for his kids and his family firm’s decision to pay its staff the minimum wage.

Rowley cited Labour’s catchphrase “the many not the few” in an exchange with Sturgeon on child poverty and taxing the rich. Rowley’s daughter Danielle Rowley, the newly-elected Labour MP for Midlothian, is Leonard’s campaign manager.

Jackie Baillie, one of Labour’s most senior MSP and a close ally of Sarwar’s, accused Rowley of hypocrisy over his remarks in Brighton since they proved the left was secretly plotting against Dugdale while publicly demanding loyalty to Corbyn. In retaliation, Leonard’s press officer Stephen Low, a Unison official, sent out a press release referring to Baillie’s remarks as “pish” – the Scots vernacular for piss.

The dispute has unnerved Leonard’s camp as it allows Sarwar’s allies to present Rowley’s remarks as evidence of leftwing disloyalty and factionalism to Scottish Labour’s 22,000 members and the 11,500 or so affiliates and registered members.

Until now, Sarwar had lost significant momentum in the attacks on his private schooling, his £20,000 a year income from shares in the family firm and the company’s lack of unionisation.

In a long statement, Leonard said:

There is no place in this campaign for making unfounded allegations about colleagues and fellow party members, for any abuse including online, or for that matter using language that lowers the tone. I make clear to my supporters that we are conducting this campaign as the proponents of hope and change, and not the old way of doing things, and that starts with my campaign itself – where there is no place for the kind of language we saw yesterday [...] I call on everyone in Scottish Labour to conduct this leadership election in a way that strengthens rather than weakens the unity and effectiveness of our party. Each candidate’s team must work towards this objective.