I’VE found myself having to reassure a lot of SNP members in the past week. Many are used to stability in the party – it’s all they’ve ever known. Having been a member for longer than I am sure you would believe, I knew that living through some, although not all, of the most turbulent times for the SNP would come in handy one day. It would appear that those days are upon us.

I am not worried. Let me state that right from the outset. I’m not saying this because I want to present a positive front. I’m saying it because, without being complacent, I really am not worried.

There has been a lot of unpleasant discourse of late. I have to say it’s mainly online rather than in real life. This has been aided by some Unionist press, aided by some in our own party, some inadvertently, some I’m sure quite deliberately. It has also been amplified by social media which can be an echo chamber that feeds negativity and conflict.

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Despite all this, I know we have many, many good people in the party and a cause which I truly believe to be right.

The last time we had a big shake-up and nobody could be sure where the cards would land, there was no Twitter and the predecessor to Facebook had only just been invented as a social media site for Harvard students.

There was an online forum called, if I remember correctly, FreeScot. You got your dial-up internet fired up and waited to get into one of the chat rooms and that’s where you witnessed any arguments, speculation or accusations.

It was pretty wild, but it was contained, used by a comparatively small minority of members and certainly not open to the public at large.

Fast forward to 2023 when the internal machinations of the SNP leadership campaign are being played out in full view of the entire world by supporters, opponents and so-called neutrals alike and it makes me almost nostalgic for the rabbit warren that was FreeScot.

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No wonder some members feel alarmed. It’s one thing having an argument with your partner where you say the most unacceptable things, but can you imagine if somehow, it was live-streamed by accident? It’s a bit like that.

Many of us have felt this coming, the sensation that things were coming to a head and that an internal storm was inevitable if we were to recover the calm needed to take us across the line to an independent Scotland.

This may look and feel like implosion, like self-inflicted damage, but when the tent is this big, the bulging at the seams can’t be helped. I am confident this will be used as a way to refresh activists, focus minds and come together with a renewed sense of purpose behind a new leader.

The history of the SNP is of a party that once the tsunami of upheaval recedes we come back together, reinvigorated and we get on with the business of fighting for our independence. It is easy for us to forget about the days when we were scrapping it out for the odd seat here and there, many of our members have known nothing but SNP wins.

It is to those members that I say, let’s not become complacent, let’s not take winning for granted – and let’s definitely not become New Labour. We will grow through this process and we will be all the more sure of where our priorities lie from having experienced it.

I want to address some of the views that some of our leadership candidates have expressed that have caused hurt. They are at odds with my own and I believe the majority of our party and country.

Privately held views are not a luxury that public figures get to have, we are elected by the people and they are entitled to know and question our beliefs.

In 2023, I do not understand how someone can hold the personal belief that the love between two men or two women is less deserving of rights than that of a heterosexual couple.

To say you would not roll back those rights now but would not have supported them at the time, in my view, makes you an unsuitable candidate to lead my party and my country.

Imagine someone saying they did not believe mixed-race couples should be able to marry or that people of a certain race should not have any of the rights we view as universal but that because they were not going to actively remove them we should just accept that. It is not hyperbole to say that the heart and soul of our progressive party is on the line and the image we portray to the world through our leader is vital when we want to win friends and influence people. No amount of talent can outweigh a fundamental belief in equality.

I have been vocal in my support of Humza Yousaf both privately and publicly since I was aware that we needed a new leader and I am even more convinced now that it is essential that he wins this contest.

The National: Humza Yousaf

Nicola led us through an unprecedented period of political success and in that sense how can continuity be considered to be anything other than something positive? We know that a socially progressive left-of-centre policy position chimes with the majority of Scots and drastic deviation from that would be both logically and morally bankrupt.

Humza is his own person. He will find his feet and show the country his vision for independence, not just for its own sake but for what it will mean to our everyday lives.

No doubt he will face many obstacles, some external, such as Brexit and the disastrous financial policies of the UK and unfortunately some from elements of our own party more concerned with their own agenda.

It will be up to each and every one of our members to determine who they believe can overcome these and convince a sustained majority of the country that their future will be improved with independence.

I will end on this: I have known and worked with Humza since he was 20 years old and I knew then he had exceptional capabilities.

I have a long-held policy of not endorsing anybody in internal elections but I am not just supporting him, I was one of the people who actively encouraged him to do this. Trust me, Humza is the SNP leader and first minister Scotland needs right now.