Five columnists react to Humza Yousaf becoming SNP leader

KELLY GIVEN

THE election of Humza Yousaf as leader of the SNP is a hugely remarkable moment for Scotland. The first Muslim first minister and the first person of colour to hold the highest office in this land is, undeniably, emblematic of the progressive and internationalist country we aspire to be. And that we are known the world over for. I’m deeply proud to be Scottish today and to have voted for this significant chapter in Scotland’s history.  

I’ve supported the SNP since I was a 16-year-old first time voter. This election campaign was hard going and at times, outright painful to watch. There was palpable fear from the very first day of the campaign amongst marginalised groups who watched their existence and their human rights being debated on national television. For six weeks, those communities have had to sit with that fear whilst their fate was decided by the SNP membership.  

As a member, I’m not proud of that. I’m not proud that this was even front and centre of the debate in this leadership campaign, it is not the SNP that I know and have supported for a decade. Nor is it an SNP I’d continue to support had it chosen to compromise on those values. 

I have spent these last few weeks thinking long and hard about the reasons I support independence and what that actually looks like in practice. I’ve arrived at the conclusion that if independence doesn’t represent socialist values, if it doesn’t represent the advancement of equality and human rights – it’s virtually pointless.  

READ MORE: What happened in the room as Humza Yousaf became SNP leader

Independence should represent something significantly better for the people who call Scotland their home, and if we can’t fight for that now, what exactly is the vision that we are hoping to sell the electorate when we ask them to vote for it? I voted on that basis, and I had faith that, collectively, the party would do the same.

Today’s result is a resounding victory for progression and marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for the SNP and Scotland. With the election campaign done, it’s now time to recalibrate, unite, heal divisions and ensure that the SNP is better equipped to defend those values in the future. Humza Yousaf is a talented man with the experience, skill and more importantly moral conviction to take us forward into the next phase of that mission – and onwards to independence.  

RUTH WISHART

WELL it would be tempting to say the age of caution lives on. Humza Yousaf, the Health Secretary favoured, and not so tacitly anointed by the outgoing leadership, triumphed over his even younger rival, Finance Secretary Kate Forbes.

The shiny new leader of the SNP promised to be bold and radical in what was a generous, touching, all embracing acceptance speech. We shall see.

The narrowness of the victory, 52% to 48% after the second preference votes had been redistributed, argues for a wheen of fence mending both inside his party and within the wider electorate, where Forbes was the clear favourite throughout.

I too was a Forbes supporter, though totally at odds with her social conservatism. However if a lifelong feminist, and long standing agnostic could still warm to her self evident intelligence and compassion, it is to be hoped she continues in a high profile Cabinet role. Her daughter, when she’s older, will be relieved mum lost.

READ MORE: Kate Forbes speaks out after Humza Yousaf win

I hope too that if the partnership with the Greens is to continue, the SNP sheds the sense felt in many quarters that the tail was wagging the dog. Too often that party’s policy “red lines” were not accompanied by sufficient legislative rigour. To govern may be to choose; it’s also to do your homework properly.

There are obvious reasons to be cheerful. It’s perhaps a sign that the bigots have been shoved to the back of the bus when Scotland has a leader of South Asian origin, as do the Tories, as does the city of London. That’s welcome progress in a world where skin colour still breeds kneejerk racism. His mum and dad, clutching hands, looked really proud and with no little reason.

This unexpected and sometimes chaotic election has burst a dam within the indy-supporting community, and out has flowed all manner of grudges and wrath nursed these long years to keep it warm.

Yousaf said independence will only be won by chapping on every door. True. But some of the doors which need chapped first are those harbouring the too little recognised foot soldiers in the extended indy army.

When he wins their trust; when he convinces them that the SNP understands the need to embrace and energise the already converted too, then can begin the harder task of winning over the doubters.

My reservations about Humza Yousaf getting the top job were based on a worry that he wasn’t up to it. That he would prove too easy a target, given a chequered parliamentary track record.

I’ll be absolutely delighted to be proved wrong.

KEVIN MCKENNA

WE knew before the SNP leadership contest began that the party was divided. But not this divided.

The party establishment threw everything behind Humza Yousaf, so desperate were they to ensure that there would be no threat to their cosy and ineffectual existence. An overwhelming majority of MPs and MSPs backed Yousaf, yet 48% of the wider membership voted for Kate Forbes.

Indeed, the tally of votes for Forbes is even more remarkable when you take into account the party resources that were put at the disposal of Yousaf. We now know (although we weren’t meant to) that this included the secondment of Liz Lloyd, the party’s most senior and influential adviser and Nicola Sturgeon’s gate-keeper.

And when you consider the brutal and orchestrated attacks launched against Forbes on account of her Christian faith her performance is even more remarkable. Troublingly for the SNP, it demonstrates just how out of step the party’s professional wing, a sprawling platinum card collection of seasoned hangers-on, is with the wider Yes community.

Many have been sickened at the way in which the party leadership has used the prospect of independence as a marketing tool at election times. Yet few now believe they were ever serious about it. This became clear when they used the same bullying tactics deployed against Forbes to silence those who were advocating for a referendum Plan B.

READ MORE: Humza Yousaf named new SNP leader, beating Kate Forbes and Ash Regan

Others were sickened at being labelled transphobes simply for expressing reasonable (and as it turned out, justifiable) objections to the self-ID aspects of GRR reform. Such objections are shared by up to 70% of the Scottish electorate.

Yousaf is an integral part of the SNP’s professional cartel. On their watch (and his) the party has lost around 50,000 members in four years. How any of his supporters think he has a chance of persuading undecideds to move to Yes when they’ve lost the trust of so many of their own, is anyone’s guess.

This, of course, is a good day for Humza Yousaf and his family. It’s also pleasing for those of us who see Scotland as representing the gold standard in providing opportunities for our ethnic minorities.

However, he will be judged solely on his ability to deliver independence and to improve on the persistent failures of Nicola Sturgeon in improving the lives of Scotland’s most disadvantaged communities. I wish him every success, but repeating endlessly that he is "progressive" simply won’t cut it.

GERRY HASSAN

Humza Yousaf is the new SNP leader and all things being equal will become first minister of the country later on Tuesday.

There is a powerful, potent narrative – personally and about Scotland – in Humza Yousaf’s life experience. In the campaign he used this to say something pervasive about the importance of diversity and pluralism.

This is not only a backstory, but an attempt to weave his personal journey into a statement of intent about how he sees modern Scotland, to establish differentiation with Kate Forbes and Ash Regan, and articulate his own credo. What it does underline is the degree to which Scotland has travelled in a relatively short time – with the 1999 and 2003 Scottish Parliaments elected all-white.

There is a story which is bigger than Scotland, with Sunder Katwala of British Futures noting that “Yousaf is the first Muslim politician elected to be a national leader in a western democracy”. That is a statement which has some global impact, but entails living up to such qualities domestically.

Yousaf has been a Cabinet minister for seven years, has held three senior posts, and has a mixed record. More profoundly, the SNP have as long-term incumbents become exhausted, hollowed out and too identified with the status quo and state of present-day Scotland. Many fear that Yousaf for all his background is too ready to identify with continuity and became the candidate of SNP establishment Scotland.

READ MORE: Adam Boulton mocked for basic mistakes in 'Humza Yousaf' tweet

The SNP can never become the embodiment of the insider class if they want to retain a popular edge, renew, win elections and represent change. Yousaf has to manage to do this – building a team and collective leadership linked to a shared vision of government and making progress towards independence. That is a tall ask given it proved beyond Nicola Sturgeon and what became presidential, top-down politics.

This watershed and moment of history is a point for pausing and reflecting upon Scotland’s longer story. Yet, Yousaf comes to office as wider Scottish and UK politics are in dramatic flux. The SNP’s 16 years in office has seen a political generation of people like Yousaf and Kate Forbes never face a serious electoral challenge from opponents. That will dramatically change and require a new kind of politics and leadership from Yousaf and the SNP – one which will rigorously test their qualities.

ASSA SAMAKE-ROMAN

Oh no, the dreaded 48 vs 52% is back to haunt us again! This ratio gives me cold sweats. This truly is a curse on politics on these isles.

Humza Yousaf won the SNP leadership contest with nearly 52% of second preference votes, and will be voted in as first minister on Tuesday. It was a close one. The United Kingdom’s recent political history has taught us the hard way how not to treat such a result: With a polarising winner-takes-it-all mentality. This is the last thing the SNP, and indeed the country, needs, and hopefully the new leader knows that.

READ MORE: Yessers react to Humza Yousaf being named as new SNP leader

Kate Forbes reacted to her defeat elegantly. She obtained 48% of the second preference votes: That is no small support. Some of her opponents will say that her backers are not as passionate about equality as Yousaf’s supporters, but there is a mixture of reasons as to why people vote for one person instead of another. Many SNP members cast their ballot in support of the Finance Secretary because they looked at the polls and saw that she was ahead with the general public.

This isn’t a dig at Kate Forbes – whether you like it or not, it is not an absurd way to make a choice. This phenomenon is not uncommon: we see it in primary elections all the time.

In 2007, Ségolène Royal won the French socialist primary election after weeks of leading in the polls, then lost to Nicolas Sarkozy after a campaign in which her camp struggled to rally behind her. Five years later, François Hollande won the primary too after poll after poll showed he was most likely to become the next president. On the night of his victory, he posed in front of photographers holding hands in the air with his main rival, Martine Aubry, on the doorstep of the party’s headquarters.

READ MORE: Ellie Gomersall, Assa Samake-Roman and Kelly Given join The National

In his first major speech since becoming an official presidential election candidate, he borrowed some of his contender’s radicalism and managed to reenergise the left of the party who felt bitterly disappointed that Aubry had lost. Despite having all their differences exposed publicly for months, the socialists came together and ended up beating the right.

Maybe there is a lesson to learn here: I know the SNP and the Parti socialiste are different parties with different histories, but the issues both have faced are very similar.

It is a challenging time to become Scotland’s first minister, especially coming after a leader like Nicola Sturgeon who has taken the SNP to unprecedented heights. Newspapers are filled with columns predicting the SNP’s downfall: However, with humble leadership that understands the difference between a victory and a plebiscite, Humza Yousaf may start to climb the mountain ahead of him.