Is Scotland going off Humza Yousaf already?

If it wasn’t for bad luck, Humza Yousaf would have no luck. After hobbling over the line in a brutal SNP leadership election, his tenure was instantly plunged into chaos by a police probe into the party’s finances. Raids on Nicola Sturgeon’s home and SNP HQ were followed by the arrests of Peter Murrell, Sturgeon’s husband and former party chief executive, and Colin Beattie, the now-resigned treasurer. Both men were released without charge. 

Since then, Yousaf has been plagued by rumours of a leadership challenge from erstwhile rival Kate Forbes, faced a Westminster crackdown on using devolved institutions to promote independence, and was forced to U-turn on a pledge to join a separatist rally instead of attending the coronation. 

Now a nightmare poll suggests he is unpopular with both SNP voters and the general public, and that the party is losing support among those in favour of independence. Before Sturgeon quit, three-quarters of independence supporters planned to vote SNP, a figure which is now below two-thirds.