Humza Yousaf’s decision to remove the Green Party from the coalition government set in motion a chain of events that would ultimately determine his political fate. Scotland Correspondent Conor Gillies I will report it.
“What sealed the fate of the first minister was the biggest political miscalculation of his career,” he said after Yousaf’s resignation was announced (see 12.04 post).
Ending a three-year power-sharing arrangement on Holyrood Island was a “fatal mistake” and said he saw “the walls closing in”.
Sources close to Mr Yousaf suggested the deal “puts him in charge within the government and many in the SNP are worried about how much strings they are pulling”.
“So he disposed of them and that set off a chain of events that ultimately led to this moment and ultimately his death.”
vote of no confidence
With a motion of no confidence looming in the Scottish Parliament later this week, he faced a backlash of annihilation and “no” votes from furious Conservatives, Labor, Liberal Democrats and the Greens.
“And at that stage there was a proposal for the ALBA party, Alex Salmond’s party, to support the SNP government with one of the MSPs, Ash Regan,” Mr Gillies added.
“It went too far. Allies and people close to the Scottish First Minister said, ‘Look, it’s like making a deal with the devil.'”
“Therefore, there was only one other option and that was to resign.”
Intervening for Sturgeon
Mr Gillies added an “interesting” element to what Mr Yousaf told Sky News just 48 hours earlier: he will oppose that vote unconfident.
“On a human level, this is a well-liked person within the SNP,” Mr Gillies said.
“He is the man who stepped into the bat last year when Nicola Sturgeon retired and there was always a fight ahead of him.”
But Mr Gillies said even his closest allies would recognize that “he is not Nicola Sturgeon and does not command her authority”.
