- author, craig williams
- role, BBC Scotland News
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It was a comment that must have hurt Humza Yousaf and could define his time at Bute House.
Last week, as speculation over the then first minister’s future reached a fever pitch, his former boss and mentor Alex Salmond was asked about the offer of a deal with the Alba party.
“If I were Humza Yousaf, I would draft a very favorable response. Otherwise he would be known as Humza the Brief,” Salmond told Times Radio. Ta.
Mr Yousaf was not the shortest tenured at Scotland FM, a record held by Henry MacLeish, but his departure after just 13 months was known for his continuity of leadership and longevity. This is a remarkable event for the government.
The factors leading to his resignation were all in place at the time he took office. In fact, they were part of the government program he continued to inherit.
When Mr Yousaf was appointed as Scotland’s sixth first minister in March 2023, he was seen as a candidate to continue in the role and a natural successor to Nicola Sturgeon’s vision for Scotland.
Although he was widely touted as her preferred choice, she did not endorse any of the three candidates.
But his term ended when she ended the Bute House Agreement with the Scottish Greens, which was key to that vision.
The 39-year-old has worked for and represented the SNP all his life, but his resignation leaves major problems for both the party and the government he is leaving.
Humza Yousaf – Family, Education, Career
When confirmed as Scotland’s first minister in March 2023, Yousaf became the first ethnic minority leader in a devolved government and the first Muslim to lead a major UK political party.
In many ways he reflected modern Scotland and the modern SNP, which has spent decades building support among the country’s ethnically and religiously diverse communities.
Her Pakistani father immigrated to Scotland with his family in the 1960s. His mother was born in Kenya to a South Asian family. Mr. Yousaf has frequently spoken of the racist abuse he suffered throughout his life.
He was educated at Hutchison’s Grammar Private School in Glasgow and then studied Politics at the University of Glasgow.
“My father, who was a real visionary, said we were living in a time when we needed more representation, but we didn’t really have any,” he said.
“He was the one who told me I should go into politics. At the time, I said I just enjoyed research and would rather work behind the scenes than be a front-line politician. He said, ‘Goodness knows its way’, but follow your heart.’
image source, Getty Images
He was inspired to join the SNP after hearing Alex Salmond speak out against the Iraq war while at school.
Immediately after graduating, she began working as an assistant to Bashir Ahmad, the first Muslim person of color to be elected MSP.
Mr Yousaf went on to work for both Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon, winning a list seat in the 2011 election.
At 26 years old, he was at the time the youngest ever elected MSP.
His rise through the ranks was rapid. A year later, he was promoted to Minister for Europe and International Development.
He became Transport Secretary in 2016 after winning the Glasgow Pollock seat from Labor, the first ethnic minority candidate to win the constituency seat.
corridor of power
However, his career as a minister was mixed, and the criticism he often faced was used against him when he first became a minister.
After owner Abellio took over the contract to run the franchise, he came under attack over ScotRail’s performance, which ultimately led to its nationalization.
After being promoted to cabinet as Ms Sturgeon’s new attorney general in 2018, her flagship hate crime bill was announced as a new crime of “inciting hatred” which could have a major impact on freedom of speech. Concerns led to controversy.
Yousaf was also criticized for tweeting his “disgust” over a video purportedly showing Rangers players using sectarian language, which was quickly discovered to be fake.
He also dismissed concerns about police buildings in Scotland as “exaggerated” hours before the ceiling collapsed at Broughty Ferry police station, near Dundee. Yusaf had recently moved to the town.
Within three weeks of taking over as health secretary in May 2021, Yousaf falsely claimed that 10 children were hospitalized “due to the coronavirus”, causing “undue alarm”. I had to apologize for that.
But his supporters pointed to achievements during his time in government, including completing the Queensferry crossing on time and on budget and reducing crime.
One video from that time stuck with him. He was recovering from a ruptured Achilles tendon while playing badminton when he was caught on camera falling from the knee scooter he was using to get around Holyrood corridors quickly.
When the BBC’s Scottish political editor Glen Campbell tweeted a video of his fall, Mr Yousaf responded: “If someone falls while on crutches, a knee scooter, or a wheelchair, would your instinct be to film and tweet it?”
When Nicola Sturgeon announced she would step down as First Minister in February 2023, Mr Yousaf was considered a candidate to keep her job.
He is the only candidate who has said he will challenge the UK government’s block on Ms Sturgeon’s controversial gender recognition reform in court if the party continues to push for “progressive values”. He argued that independence could only be won by
He was also the only candidate to say he would continue his partnership agreement with the Green Party.
His margin of victory was narrower than some had expected, defeating Kate Forbes 52% to 48% in the final vote.
Just days after her oath of office, police raided the homes of Ms Sturgeon and her husband Peter Murrell, as well as the SNP headquarters in Edinburgh, as part of an Operation Branchform investigation into the party’s funds and finances.
The two were subsequently arrested and released without charge pending further investigation.
Earlier this month, Mr Murrell was rearrested and charged in connection with the embezzlement of funds from the SNP.
In the year Yousaf became the first minister, a controversial Green Party-led deposit refund plan was postponed.
The Scottish Government went to the Supreme Court to challenge the UK Government’s block on gender recognition reform, but lost and the bill was shelved.
In the Rutherglen by-election last October, Labor easily won the SNP by a 20% margin. The by-election was sparked by the recall of former SNP MP Margaret Ferrier after she was found guilty of breaching coronavirus rules.
Mr. Yousaf took a key position in the Gaza conflict from its early stages, calling for an immediate ceasefire.
Yousaf described those weeks as the most difficult weeks of his life.
But he faced new controversy earlier this month when the hate crimes law he promoted as attorney general went into effect.
Critics argued the bill could undermine free speech, but the government argued it would provide protection without stifling individual expression.
But a big part of Nicola Sturgeon’s legacy – the decision to abandon her power-sharing deal with the Scottish Greens – led to his downfall.
This angered many within the Scottish Green Party, whose members called for a vote on whether to continue the partnership.
Yousaf and his team seemed surprised by the Green Party’s strong reaction.
As last week ended, he said he had never intended to upset or anger his ex-partner and struggled to control events.
But as they made it clear that it was Mr Yousaf who had to go, and his colleagues made it clear that any agreement with Alex Salmond and Alba was out of the question, the First Minister simply got out of the way. lost.
His two-decade run with the SNP has come to a brutal end, with him leaving the party facing a new leadership challenge ahead of a general election where opinion polls are already suggesting it will be an uphill battle.
