Category Archives: Humza Yousaf

Humza Yousaf Will ‘Come Out Fighting’ In Bid To Save His Job, Says Stephen Flynn

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Humza Yousaf will “come out fighting” to save his job as Scottish first minister, the SNP’s Westminster leader has declared.

Stephen Flynn said he will stand “shoulder to shoulder” with Yousaf, who faces a vote of no confidence at Holyrood next week.

His leadership was plunged into crisis yesterday after he ended the SNP’s tie-up with the Green Party at the Scottish Parliament.

The Greens said they would support a motion of no confidence in Yousaf tabled by Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross.

That has left the first minister relying on the backing of Ash Regan – who defected from the SNP to the Alba Party last year – to save his job.

Amid speculation that Yousaf could resign before next week’s vote, Flynn told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme: “I spoke to the first minister last night shortly after we’d put our own kids to bed and he’s going to come out fighting.

“He’s going to come out fighting because he believes in his priorities for the people and he believes in representing the public to the best of his ability and that means ensuring that the Scottish government is delivering for them.

“I’m very keen to hear what he has to say and I’m going to be standing shoulder to shoulder beside him as he seeks to convince others in Holyrood that he’s the right person to take our country forward.”

Asked if Yousaf would quit if he lost the confidence vote, Flynn said: “24 hours is a long time in politics, a week is an even longer time in politics.

“There’s a lot of water to flow under the bridge over the coming days. There’s a lot of discussions to be had, there’s going to be a lot of time for reflection for many of the main parties within this.

“I would still be confident that once people have heard what the first minister has to say that they can be convinced that he is indeed the right man to remain as first minister and to focus on the public’s priorities.”

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Humza Yousaf Needs To Unite His Warring Party Before He Can Lead His Country

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Humza Yousaf had better not be a superstitious man.

In a quirk of fate, his winning margin of victory over Kate Forbes in the SNP leadership contest was 52% to 48% – exactly the same result which saw Leave defeat Remain in the 2016 Brexit referendum.

Scotland’s first minister-elect (his elevation to the role will be confirmed by the Scottish Parliament tomorrow) will hope that history does not repeat itself in the aftermath of his success.

It has taken nearly seven exhausting years of bitter political battles for the UK to finally begin to come to terms with life outside the EU, although of course many will never reconcile themselves to that reality.

Yousaf must somehow bring his party back together in a much shorter space of time before he can even begin to think about leading his country.

The challenge facing him was perfectly encapsulated by a revealing tweet by SNP MSP Karen Adam.

She told her followers she was “relieved” that Yousaf had won – and, by extension, that Forbes had lost. What’s more, her post was then re-tweeted by the SNP’s official Twitter account.

Karen Adam's tweet - and the SNP's re-tweeting of it - demonstrated the bitter splits in the party.
Karen Adam’s tweet – and the SNP’s re-tweeting of it – demonstrated the bitter splits in the party.

Mike Russell – the SNP’s acting chief executive who admitted the party is in “a tremendous mess” during the leadership contest – was also refreshingly honest in the immediate aftermath of Yousaf’s victory.

Asked by Times Radio if the party could unite behind their new leader, he would only say: “The potential for unity exists.”

The fact remains, however, that despite being the SNP establishment candidate, Yousaf won by just 2,000 votes against a candidate who was roundly pilloried at the start of the campaign over her opposition to gay marriage and having children outside wedlock.

One senior SNP figure pointed out that at the start of the leadership campaign, Yousaf’s approval rating among the public was minus 16. By the end, it was minus 20.

“The more people see of him, the less they like him,” they said.

One MP told HuffPost UK that having failed to win the support of more than half of party members in the first round of voting (he got 48%), uniting the party behind him will be extraordinarily difficult.

“It’s not exactly a ringing endorsement of Humza or the campaign he run,” the MP said.

“He’ll also not have enjoyed having to actually work for it. His sense of entitlement is off the charts.”

The fractious nature of the debate served only to highlight the deep divisions which Nicola Sturgeon had managed to keep a lid on for so long.

In his acceptance speech, Yousaf said: “The people of Scotland need independence now more than ever before, and we will be the generation that delivers independence for Scotland.”

He may find that bringing together the warring SNP tribes may be a harder task than persuading Scots that their best interests lie outside the United Kingdom.

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