Humza Yousaf has a reputation for being a bit of a crowd-pleaser and, true to form, everyone seemed inordinately happy at his installation as SNP leader – especially the opposition parties. The Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross purred like an overstuffed tabby cat. Yousaf had just scraped home by 52 to 48 per cent – a less than wholehearted endorsement from the SNP membership after a leadership election in which independence somehow got lost in the hustings. Sir Keir Starmer sounded over the moon too and the sigh of relief from No. 10 could be heard all the way from Murrayfield.
Perhaps Forbes thinks she’s dodged a bullet this time
Kate Forbes as first minister might have been a bit of a handful, not least because she proved to be worryingly popular among Scottish voters according to the opinion polls, and seemed to have the grit to make a credible replacement for Nicola Sturgeon.
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