Highs and lows of Humza Yousaf’s dizzying time as first minister

Drama has been plentiful in the 13 months that Humza Yousaf led the SNP. Almost as soon as he took the post he was told that the party had been without auditors for months and was struggling to file its accounts.

In the period where he would have been expected to set the agenda, he was overshadowed by a blue tent and a campervan.

The high-profile arrest of Peter Murrell, the former SNP chief executive and Nicola Sturgeon’s husband, and the raids on the couple’s Glasgow home and the party’s Edinburgh headquarters, dominated the headlines instead. This month Murrell was rearrested and charged in connection with the alleged embezzlement of party funds.

In an early sign of an unlucky first minister who would see his premiership buffeted by events largely outside his control, his speech to Holyrood to outline his policy priorities was overshadowed by the arrest and release of Colin Beattie, the former party treasurer.

Then in June Sturgeon was arrested and released without charge pending further investigation as part of Operation Branchform.

The best and worst of Yousaf was seen at a special party conference to set out an independence strategy.

He used his charisma to connect with people by calming a protester angry about her botched surgery — at the same time shutting down SNP activists who were booing her — but by the end of the speech attendees were no clearer on his plan to break up the UK.

Summer turned to autumn but there was no respite: MPs left his party almost as quickly as leaves fell from the trees.

Margaret Ferrier, who had already been expelled from the SNP over breaches of Covid rules, was forced out of Westminster by a recall petition. The subsequent by-election in Rutherglen and Hamilton West was a rout by Labour and critics began to openly express doubts over Yousaf.

Then Angus MacNeil, the Western Isles MP, was expelled from the party after his stand-up row with the party’s chief whip in the Commons. He will stand against the SNP as an independent in the general election, all but eliminating the party’s chances of keeping the seat.

In October Lisa Cameron, the MP for East Kilbride, defected to the Conservatives and claimed there was a “toxic and bullying” culture in the SNP.

The most ironic rebellion, however, was that of Fergus Ewing, the veteran SNP MSP, who was suspended by the party for voting in favour of a confidence motion in Lorna Slater, the Scottish Greens co-leader, over her handling of the botched deposit-return scheme.

This led to Yousaf facing calls to rethink the power-sharing deal with the Greens as he approached his first full-blown party conference as leader.

In the event that meeting was overshadowed by serious personal worries for the first minister. His wife’s parents were trapped in the conflict in Gaza and he spoke movingly about their predicament in what was seen as his most impressive period in office. His in-laws were eventually able to escape and return home to Dundee.

At the conference Yousaf made the headline-grabbing announcement that he would freeze council tax. It led to more headaches though, with members of his cabinet blindsided and unhappy because of the strain the plan would put on government finances.

Tensions continued into talks for this year’s budget which saw tax rises and a new band for higher earners as part of an effort to plug a £1.5 billion black hole.

Despite his emphasis on national “missions” based on the principles of equality, opportunity and community, the budget was lambasted by anti-poverty groups, exactly the kind of organisations Yousaf wanted to win over.

He lost an important ally in February when Michael Matheson quit as health secretary over an £11,000 bill racked up on his parliamentary iPad by his two sons watching football matches while abroad.

Controversy followed the introduction of the Hate Crime & Public Order Act which he steered through Holyrood as justice secretary, but the biggest blow came when the Scottish government announced it would ditch its climate change targets.

This led to the Scottish Greens holding an internal vote of its members on whether to remain in government, which was the catalyst for Yousaf taking that decision out of their hands and ending the coalition — the move that ultimately led to his downfall.