SNP parliamentarians have warned that Humza Yousaf is doomed to fail as Scottish first minister even though he is the frontrunner in the race for the party leadership.
Senior figures including some of his own supporters have privately said that the Scottish health secretary is “lightweight”, “over-promoted” and “not going to be able to deliver” if elected leader.
One ally said Yousaf risked being ousted shortly after next year’s general election should the party not live up to its performance under Nicola Sturgeon.
While Yousaf took an early lead in the first poll of members, who will take part in an online vote this month, many MPs and MSPs are alarmed by his lack of popularity with ordinary voters.
They are desperate to increase support for the SNP and the independence cause. But in a poll by this newspaper last weekend, voters gave Yousaf a personal approval rating of minus 16.
One SNP parliamentarian warned: “The opposition see Humza as a gift. If he does badly at the general election — and this has already been discussed widely, including by activists and in parliament — then he won’t last beyond that.”
Another said that Yousaf’s “limited reach beyond hardcore committed SNP voters could lead to a difficult result next year akin to the 2017 general election”. That was when the party dropped 13 per cent in support and lost 21 seats.
“People are already talking about alternatives who might come forward to replace him. People like [culture minister] Neil Gray, [constitution minister] Angus Robertson and [environment minister] Mairi McAllan.”
The doubts have arisen as fresh concern is voiced about Yousaf’s integrity. A fourth government source insisted he had skipped a vote on the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill in 2014 after coming under pressure from Muslim leaders.
Yousaf, 37, who has capitalised on concern over his main rival Kate Forbes’s opposition to same sex marriage on religious grounds, pulled out of the landmark vote on gay marriage.
Denying he would ever use his faith as a basis for legislation, Yousaf has claimed that the vote clashed with an “unavoidable” meeting with the consul of Pakistan to discuss a Scot who was on death row.
Yousaf’s ministerial diary, which has been seen by The Herald, revealed that he arranged the meeting three weeks ahead of the vote, before Mohammad Asghar had been sentenced.
In recent days, Alex Neil, the former SNP health minister who piloted the bill through Holyrood said Yousaf’s claims were “not true”, a position echoed by Alex Salmond, first minister at the time.
A third source who was then in government echoed that view when they spoke to this newspaper last weekend. Now a fourth source in government in 2014 has contradicted Yousaf, who as MSP for Glasgow Pollok had voted in principle for the bill at an earlier stage before missing the stage 3 vote.
The source said: “In early 2014 I was in the company of the first minister when he took a call from Joe FitzPatrick [then parliamentary business manager].
“Clearly, plenty of discussion had already been had before that point about accommodating Humza’s absence from the stage 3 vote on same sex marriage. For a number of weeks he had been getting a tough time from some quarters of the Muslim community.
“The government wasn’t worried about its numbers so the first minister shrugged his shoulders and said, ‘Yeah, yeah’ to Humza skipping the vote. There were other ministers actively voting against the bill on conscience grounds so, while Humza’s situation was widely known by colleagues at the time, they barely batted an eyelid.”
Yousaf said: “I have never denied there was pressure on me regarding this vote but I was vocal about my support for marriage equality at the time and I remain totally unequivocal on that position.”
Fitzpatrick, who is a member of Yousaf’s leadership campaign team, backed the candidate’s story.
“All arrangements for ministers being handed permission to conduct vital government business during votes in parliament were handled and approved by myself,” he said. “While other ministers did raise concerns about the bill at the time, Humza was not one of them.”
Last week’s Savanta poll of 515 SNP members, for The Daily Telegraph, found 31 per cent backed Yousaf, 25 per cent backed Forbes and 11 per cent would choose Ash Regan, the former community safety minister who quit the government over its gender recognition reforms. Undecided voters stood at 32 per cent.
Voting in the leadership contest begins on March 13 under a single transferable system, which could help Forbes. The latest Panelbase polling for The Sunday Times, conducted on February 21-24, suggested that Sturgeon’s departure may hit backing for Scottish independence.
Support for independence among those voicing an opinion stood at 48 per cent (down 4 per cent since December), with opposition up four points to 52 per cent. While 9 per cent said Sturgeon’s resignation would make them more likely to back independence in a future referendum, 15 per cent said it would make them less likely to do so.
He’s still the best candidate of the three. If the other two options are a raging bigot and a complete moron then the guy who’s a bit of a lightweight is the best choice.
It isn’t possible for him to deliver, he would compromise equal rights before going against his religion. Somebody with such a moral dilemma about their mind is not in my opinion a leadership candidate.
Disastrous candidate. Literally encourages children to snitch on their parents for things they find offensive. Also seems to hate the fact that in 96% white Scotland, most of the people in senior judicial positions are white – even though he was the guy with overall responsibility as the justice minister.
Good to know his religion overrides any UK or moral laws. Sounds like a great candidate for a leader of a Christian/catholic country. What could go wrong ? I say a conflict of interests with this one.
I find it odd that the SNP leadership election is being fought on gender related issues rather than issues that really affect Scotland like health, the economy and education which have all suffered under the SNP’s tenure
He’s always missing in action when votes for anything to do with LGBTQ+ come up for some reason. Hmm.
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[Link without paywall](https://archive.is/SuMfn)
SNP parliamentarians have warned that Humza Yousaf is doomed to fail as Scottish first minister even though he is the frontrunner in the race for the party leadership.
Senior figures including some of his own supporters have privately said that the Scottish health secretary is “lightweight”, “over-promoted” and “not going to be able to deliver” if elected leader.
One ally said Yousaf risked being ousted shortly after next year’s general election should the party not live up to its performance under Nicola Sturgeon.
While Yousaf took an early lead in the first poll of members, who will take part in an online vote this month, many MPs and MSPs are alarmed by his lack of popularity with ordinary voters.
They are desperate to increase support for the SNP and the independence cause. But in a poll by this newspaper last weekend, voters gave Yousaf a personal approval rating of minus 16.
One SNP parliamentarian warned: “The opposition see Humza as a gift. If he does badly at the general election — and this has already been discussed widely, including by activists and in parliament — then he won’t last beyond that.”
Another said that Yousaf’s “limited reach beyond hardcore committed SNP voters could lead to a difficult result next year akin to the 2017 general election”. That was when the party dropped 13 per cent in support and lost 21 seats.
“People are already talking about alternatives who might come forward to replace him. People like [culture minister] Neil Gray, [constitution minister] Angus Robertson and [environment minister] Mairi McAllan.”
The doubts have arisen as fresh concern is voiced about Yousaf’s integrity. A fourth government source insisted he had skipped a vote on the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill in 2014 after coming under pressure from Muslim leaders.
Yousaf, 37, who has capitalised on concern over his main rival Kate Forbes’s opposition to same sex marriage on religious grounds, pulled out of the landmark vote on gay marriage.
Denying he would ever use his faith as a basis for legislation, Yousaf has claimed that the vote clashed with an “unavoidable” meeting with the consul of Pakistan to discuss a Scot who was on death row.
Yousaf’s ministerial diary, which has been seen by The Herald, revealed that he arranged the meeting three weeks ahead of the vote, before Mohammad Asghar had been sentenced.
In recent days, Alex Neil, the former SNP health minister who piloted the bill through Holyrood said Yousaf’s claims were “not true”, a position echoed by Alex Salmond, first minister at the time.
A third source who was then in government echoed that view when they spoke to this newspaper last weekend. Now a fourth source in government in 2014 has contradicted Yousaf, who as MSP for Glasgow Pollok had voted in principle for the bill at an earlier stage before missing the stage 3 vote.
The source said: “In early 2014 I was in the company of the first minister when he took a call from Joe FitzPatrick [then parliamentary business manager].
“Clearly, plenty of discussion had already been had before that point about accommodating Humza’s absence from the stage 3 vote on same sex marriage. For a number of weeks he had been getting a tough time from some quarters of the Muslim community.
“The government wasn’t worried about its numbers so the first minister shrugged his shoulders and said, ‘Yeah, yeah’ to Humza skipping the vote. There were other ministers actively voting against the bill on conscience grounds so, while Humza’s situation was widely known by colleagues at the time, they barely batted an eyelid.”
Yousaf said: “I have never denied there was pressure on me regarding this vote but I was vocal about my support for marriage equality at the time and I remain totally unequivocal on that position.”
Fitzpatrick, who is a member of Yousaf’s leadership campaign team, backed the candidate’s story.
“All arrangements for ministers being handed permission to conduct vital government business during votes in parliament were handled and approved by myself,” he said. “While other ministers did raise concerns about the bill at the time, Humza was not one of them.”
Last week’s Savanta poll of 515 SNP members, for The Daily Telegraph, found 31 per cent backed Yousaf, 25 per cent backed Forbes and 11 per cent would choose Ash Regan, the former community safety minister who quit the government over its gender recognition reforms. Undecided voters stood at 32 per cent.
Voting in the leadership contest begins on March 13 under a single transferable system, which could help Forbes. The latest Panelbase polling for The Sunday Times, conducted on February 21-24, suggested that Sturgeon’s departure may hit backing for Scottish independence.
Support for independence among those voicing an opinion stood at 48 per cent (down 4 per cent since December), with opposition up four points to 52 per cent. While 9 per cent said Sturgeon’s resignation would make them more likely to back independence in a future referendum, 15 per cent said it would make them less likely to do so.
He’s still the best candidate of the three. If the other two options are a raging bigot and a complete moron then the guy who’s a bit of a lightweight is the best choice.
It isn’t possible for him to deliver, he would compromise equal rights before going against his religion. Somebody with such a moral dilemma about their mind is not in my opinion a leadership candidate.
Disastrous candidate. Literally encourages children to snitch on their parents for things they find offensive. Also seems to hate the fact that in 96% white Scotland, most of the people in senior judicial positions are white – even though he was the guy with overall responsibility as the justice minister.
Good to know his religion overrides any UK or moral laws. Sounds like a great candidate for a leader of a Christian/catholic country. What could go wrong ? I say a conflict of interests with this one.
I find it odd that the SNP leadership election is being fought on gender related issues rather than issues that really affect Scotland like health, the economy and education which have all suffered under the SNP’s tenure
He’s always missing in action when votes for anything to do with LGBTQ+ come up for some reason. Hmm.