Humza Yousaf isn’t cut out to be SNP leader

It is now exactly a year since Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s First Minister, rose to the pinnacle of Scottish politics. Pretty much everything that has happened since entitles those who doubted his leadership skills, political judgment and basic competence to mutter ‘I told you so’. Even his most diehard supporters within the SNP must be starting to wonder what his leadership is all about.

The warning signs were there from the start. Yousaf quickly emerged as the favourite to replace Nicola Sturgeon following her shock resignation last February. He simply wanted the job more than anyone else, and billed himself as the continuity candidate. He came under sustained attack from Kate Forbes, his main rival in the leadership contest, whose slogan was ‘continuity won’t cut it’ – a line of attack that has turned out to be rather prescient. The narrowness of his eventual victory over Forbes amounted to a distinctly lukewarm endorsement by his own party: a damaging blow to his authority from which he has never really recovered.