Hamza Yusuf: Who was the first Muslim leader of the Scottish National Party?

Hamza Yusuf was elected to succeed Nicola Sturgeon as leader of the Scottish National Party and the next First Minister of Scotland. He was widely seen as the preferred candidate for the leadership of the party, including from Sturgeon herself.

And the Minister of Health received the support and endorsement of members of the British Parliament and the Scottish Parliament much more than his competitors, and the Deputy First Minister, John Sweeney, predicted that Youssef “will complete our journey towards independence.”

Youssef is undoubtedly the most experienced of the three contenders for the party’s leadership, having served in the government since 2012 in positions including Minister of Justice and Minister of Transport.

His supporters say he is a seasoned interlocutor best placed to unite the party and maintain a power-sharing deal with the Scottish Greens after it was deeply divided over leadership.

Youssef is a close ally of Sturgeon and is generally seen as a “continuity candidate” who would seek to continue the outgoing first minister’s work.

He is the only one of the three contenders who has said he would challenge the British government’s blocking of Sturgeon’s controversial gender recognition reforms in the courts, arguing that independence from the UK will only be achieved if the party continues to push “progressive values”.

But he stressed that he would not take the matter to court unless the legal advice said that the appeal could be successful.

Youssef distanced himself from Sturgeon’s plan to use the upcoming election as a de facto referendum, saying he would instead seek to build a “firm majority” in favor of independence and that “it is not enough for opinion polls to indicate 50 percent or 51 percent support for independence.”

But he tried to reach out to more impatient independence supporters by saying he would consider calling a snap election at Holyrood to test support for independence from the United Kingdom.

Youssef also rejected allegations that the party is doing its best to ensure that he wins the party leadership election after allegations that the shortened election campaign was tailored to his advantage.

He said he would be willing to listen to concerns about controversial policies, such as proposals for a new national care service.

Speaking to BBC Scotland’s “Sunday Show” earlier in the campaign, Yusuf insisted he would “do things my own way”.

“I am very impressed with the excellent work that Nicola Sturgeon has done as First Minister,” Youssef added.

He continued, “But she had her approach to leadership. As for mine, it will depend on having a few cronies and many from the base.”

Yusuf’s critics claim that he “failed despite the progress in his career” and achieved little during his time in government, with Jackie Bailey of the Labor Party describing him as “the worst health minister ever” who “now aspires to be the worst first minister.” “.

But the worst assessment came from fellow SNP leadership contender Kate Forbes, who told Youssef during a live debate: “When I was transport minister the trains were never on time and when I was justice minister the police were stretched to breaking point. Now, as the Minister of Health, we have record waiting times (to see a doctor).”

The rift between Youssef and Forbes was a major feature of the election, with Youssef claiming that his rival’s views on social issues such as same-sex marriage, transgender rights and abortion would cause the party to “bounce to the right”.

But Yusuf also faced questions about his failure to participate in the final vote on same-sex marriage in 2014, which he said was due to a vital meeting about a Scotsman who was being held and facing execution in Pakistan on blasphemy charges.

Alex Salmond, who was the first minister at the time, told Sky News that Yusuf missed the vote due to religious pressure from a mosque in Glasgow – a claim Yusuf vehemently denied.

If the 37-year-old becomes Scotland’s first minister, he will make history as the first ethnic minority leader in a devolved government and the first Muslim to lead a major party in the UK.

Youssef’s father is of Pakistani origin and immigrated to Scotland with his family in the 1960s, while his mother was born into a South Asian family in Kenya, and Youssef often spoke about the racist abuse he was subjected to.

Yusuf had to call the police after allegedly receiving threats at the start of the party leadership contest, and a 25-year-old man and a 35-year-old woman were arrested and charged.

Yusuf was educated at the private Hutchinsons Grammar School in Glasgow, where he was two years younger than Scottish Labor leader Anas Sarwar.

After studying politics at the University of Glasgow, he worked briefly in a communications centre, before becoming Parliamentary Assistant to Bashir Ahmed, Member of the Scottish Parliament, and subsequently Assistant to Alex Salmond.

Yousef was elected to the SNP’s list for Glasgow in 2011, and was appointed by Sammond as Minister for Europe and International Development just a year later.

He became transport minister in 2016 after winning the Glasgow Pollock constituency seat from Labour, making him the first ethnic minority candidate to win a seat in the Scottish Parliament.

Six months after taking over the bag, he was fined £300 and six demerit points added to his licence, after being stopped by police while driving his friend’s car without insurance.

He also faced criticism of the performance of the railway company, Scot Rail, after Abilio took over the contract to run the railway concession, which eventually led to its nationalization.

Youssef received another promotion in 2018 when Sturgeon appointed him as the new justice minister as part of a cabinet reshuffle.

But his main hate crime bill has sparked controversy over concerns that the new crime of “inciting hate” could have a significant impact on freedom of expression.

Critics of the legislation said it could lead to libraries and bookstores being sued for having controversial books on their shelves, with the new law potentially criminalizing people for holding private conversations in their homes.

Former SNP deputy leader Jim Sillar described the bill as “one of the most dangerous pieces of legislation that any government in modern times has passed in any part of the UK”.

It was eventually passed by members of the Scottish Parliament in March 2021 after making a series of changes but has not yet become law.

Youssef was also criticized for tweeting his “disgust” at a video that supposedly showed Rangers players using sectarian language that was soon found to be fake.

Yusuf dismissed concerns about the condition of police buildings in Scotland as “exaggerated” just hours before the roof collapsed at Protea Ferry police station near Dundee. And Joseph recently moved to the city.

Within three weeks of becoming Minister of Health in May 2021, Youssef apologized for any “undue alarm” caused by his wrongly claiming that 10 children had been hospitalized “due to coronavirus”.

Yusuf was also famous for falling off a bike he was using in the Scottish Parliament while recovering from a ruptured Achilles tendon sustained while playing badminton.

When Glen Campbell, BBC Scotland’s political editor, posted a video on Twitter, Yusuf replied: “If anyone else had fallen on crutches or a wheelchair, would your first thought have been filmed and tweeted?” ?

His time as health minister was marked by high hospital waiting times, although Youssef points out that these problems are not unique to Scotland, and that Scotland is the only part of the UK that has avoided strikes by state health system staff.

Yusuf’s supporters, who include Westminster SNP leader Stephen Flynn and Sweeney, point to his achievements, such as delivering the Quizfery crossing on time under budget when he was in charge of transport, and falling crime while he was justice secretary.

Flynn said he believes Yusuf is best suited to address the country’s economic challenges, and hailed his plan to accelerate expansion of one- and two-year-old care as “capable of making a real difference for both working families and the broader economy.”

Youssef and his wife Nadia Al Nakhla, an SNP member in Dundee, recently dropped a £30,000 legal case against a nursery they accused of discrimination.

The couple claimed they were told there was no foster place for their daughter at Broughty Ferry, but that applicants with “white Scots-like names” were accepted.

The nursery said any claim it was not open and inclusive was “patently false” and that it had to spend tens of thousands of pounds “to defend our little preschool against their false claims”.

The Inspection Department had supported a previous official complaint filed by Youssef and Al-Nakhla regarding custody.