Humza Yousaf: The life, political path and controversies of the SNP leader
The Scottish Parliament's seventh leader has stepped down after days of turmoil in Holyrood following the collapse of the party's powersharing agreement with the Greens.
Monday 29 April 2024 13:31, UK
Humza Yousaf has quit as Scotland's first minister and leader of the SNP.
We take a look back at how the 39-year-old rose through the ranks to become Scotland's top politician.
Early life and background
Mr Yousaf - the MSP for Glasgow Pollok - was born in the city on 7 April 1985 to a Pakistani father and Kenyan mother.
He was privately educated at Hutchesons' Grammar School in Glasgow and became interested in politics during his youth.
He went on to study the topic at the University of Glasgow, graduating in 2007 with an MA.
During his time at university, he joined the SNP. He was also president of the Muslim Students Association and was involved in the Students' Representative Council.
It was straight to Holyrood for Mr Yousaf, taking a job as a parliamentary assistant to the SNP's Bashir Ahmad - Scotland's first Muslim MSP.
After Mr Ahmad's death two years later, he carried on the role and worked as an assistant for a number of MSPs, including Nicola Sturgeon and the then-first minister Alex Salmond, solidifying his place in the party.
Mr Yousaf has been married twice and has a child and stepchild.
Life in politics
Mr Yousaf was elected as an MSP in 2011. At 26, he was the youngest MSP to enter Holyrood at the time.
When appointed minister for external affairs and international development in 2012, he became the first non-white and Muslim minister in Holyrood.
In 2016, when Ms Sturgeon was running the show, Mr Yousaf was named transport minister.
Following a cabinet reshuffle in 2018, he was then promoted to justice secretary before taking on the mantle of health secretary in 2021.
Announcing his bid to run for first minister, Mr Yousaf said: "You've got to put yourself forward if you think you're the best person for the job. And I do. This is the top job in the country, and it needs somebody who has experience."
During his campaign, Mr Yousaf pledged to "work tirelessly" to improve the rights of women and girls.
He also vowed to give youngsters from deprived backgrounds free football club memberships and would look at increasing the Scottish child payment - a £25 per week payout to the country's poorest families with children under 16.
He said: "The benefit of being first minister is you get to choose what your priorities are.
"I would want to see us continue to increase that in order to make sure that it's helping the poorest and the most vulnerable in our society."
After a three-way race, he came out on top, triumphing over Kate Forbes and Ash Regan, and became first minister in March 2023 - the seventh since the Scottish Parliament was established in 1999.
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Controversies
While transport minister in 2016, Mr Yousaf was caught by police driving a friend's car without insurance.
Mr Yousaf claimed it was an "honest mistake", adding: "And an embarrassing one for me personally. However, it underlines the importance of being properly insured at all times."
He was fined £300 and had six penalty points added to his licence.
As health secretary, Mr Yousaf came under fire over the state of Scotland's NHS.
In early 2023, health boards were yet to recover from an extremely difficult winter which saw A&E waiting times reach record levels. Although A&E performance improved since the start of that year, key treatment time targets were again missed in early March 2023.
During one appearance at First Minister's Questions, Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross branded Mr Yousaf the "worst health secretary since devolution, but it looks like he is going to fail upwards".
"He was a transport minister who drove without [insurance]," Mr Ross said. "He delayed the dualling of the A9. And he clapped like a seal when Nicola Sturgeon launched a ferry with painted-on windows."
Mr Ross was referring to Ms Sturgeon's "launch" of the MV Glen Sannox in 2017, which was said to have had painted on windows at the time. The ferry is yet to be put into service.
Mr Ross added: "In any other line of work, Humza Yousaf would have been sacked, not promoted. Forget being SNP leader, why is he even still in government?"
During campaigning, Alex Salmond told Sky News that Mr Yousaf skipped a key vote on gay marriage in 2014 due to "religious pressure".
Mr Yousaf refuted the former first minister's claim, stating: "Well I have to say, my recollection is very different to Alex Salmond's recollection."
The MSP claimed he was absent from the historic vote due to the case of a Scottish citizen on death row in Pakistan.
No confidence motions
Mr Yousaf's biggest challenge came just over a year after taking up the premiership amid upset and anger in Holyrood.
The first minister announced in April 2024 he would be ending the power-sharing deal between the SNP and the Scottish Green Party - made in 2021 when his party came in just shy of an outright majority in the Holyrood election of the same year.
The Greens had been expected to hold a vote on the future of the agreement over anger at the SNP's scrapping of key climate targets and its response to the Cass report into gender services for under-18s in England and Wales.
But Mr Yousaf pushed them before they jumped, saying the deal had "served its purpose".
He had hoped to keep up an informal agreement with the party to keep a minority SNP government ticking along, but instead they joined forces with the Scottish Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties in planning a no-confidence motion against him as first minister.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar then announced his party would be lodging a no-confidence motion in the government, which could in turn lead to a general election - though it is not clear they have the numbers to see a vote pass.
Both the Greens and Alba said they believed Mr Yousaf's hand was forced on the climate change targets and gender services by those within his own party.
Mr Yousaf told Sky News on 26 April he planned to "fight" to stay on, adding: "I've got every intention of winning that vote of no confidence."
However, his tune had changed just three days later when a senior SNP source told Sky News Mr Yousaf could "call it quits" that day.
Mr Yousaf would have to rely on the Alba Party to survive a vote of no confidence as the other parties had said they would not support him, but a source told Sky News Mr Yousaf had said Alba leader Mr Salmond pulling the strings behind the scenes would be "doing a deal with the devil".
Hours after rumours he was going to quit, Mr Yousaf announced he was stepping down, explaining he had underestimated the feelings of the Green Party when he cut ties with them.
He said it had been "an honour" to serve as first minister but he was "not willing to treat my values and principles or do deals with whomever simply for retaining power".
Mr Yousaf said he bore "no ill will and certainly no grudge against anyone" and became emotional as he thanked his wife, children and family for "putting up with me over the years".
He also said he was evidence multiculturalism is flourishing in the UK and as a boy he "could never have dreamt" of becoming first minister.