The many missteps of Humza Yousaf

The apparently irresistible rise of Humza Yousaf, the SNP politician seen as the frontrunner to succeed Nicola Sturgeon as Scotland’s first minister, reveals much about the dearth of talent at the very top of Scottish politics. Yousaf is a politician with almost no discernible achievements to his name despite almost a decade in senior ministerial roles. If truth be told — cruel as it may sound — many will consider Yousaf a serial political incompetent who has made a name for himself in Scottish politics for all the wrong reasons. 

Even so, Yousaf certainly takes himself seriously enough. There he was on Monday launching his leadership campaign in Clydebank, a former shipbuilding town west of Glasgow. This is where his grandfather had his first job at the nearby Singer sewing machine factory after emigrating to Scotland in 1962. 

Yousaf declared that his candidacy to become first minister was proof of Scotland’s inclusive, diverse ethos.