Achi news desk-
You wake up, you break up. And so it was for Humza Yousaf as he decided to lay down the Prime Minister’s baton and run for the hills.
Just over a year into the job, after succeeding Nicola Sturgeon in March last year, Mr Yousaf has gone out the door having failed to win friends and influence people before a crucial vote of no confidence.
The outgoing SNP leader appeared to be the loneliest man in the world as he arrived at Bute House at 11am this morning, ahead of his scheduled midday resignation speech.
By some accounts he only made the final decision to quit at 9am, contemplating his future with his cup of breakfast tea, before concluding that enough was enough.
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Humza Yousaf tearfully announces his resignation as Prime Minister
He probably didn’t wonder how this all came to be. Just over a week ago, he was First Minister of Scotland – in charge of a troublesome, but not insurgent party, and assured of a majority in the Scottish Parliament.
Then came his decision – a ‘brave’ one, in the language of Yes, Prime Minister – to scrap the Bute House Agreement and free the Scottish Greens from government.
A man who likes his resignation decisions early, Mr Yousaf broke the news to a bewildered Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater at 8am on Thursday.
What he didn’t expect, for reasons he can only fathom as the reaction seems obvious in retrospect, was that this tact would go down as well as a buffet of sausage rolls in vegan cooking.
As the deal closed, Greens co-leader Lorna Slater called the decision an act of “political cowardice” and accused Humza Yousaf of “selling out future generations” to appease the “most reactionary forces in the country.” ”
These reactionary forces are members of Mr Yousaf’s own party, which was said to be on the move to get him to abandon the political agreement.
Ms Slater launched her diatribe – made before the ink was dry on her P45 – by saying “the Prime Minister could no longer be trusted”. If the money a coalition runs on is a trust, Mr Yousaf suddenly found himself bankrupt.
Soon he would be raking in the bargain bin, but first he had to get over his fatigue because of the disaster that happened to him at his own hand.
“I don’t regret the end of the Bute House Agreement but I’ve heard their grief, I’ve heard their anger. I can honestly say that was not the intention,” he said at the weekend, somehow unaware that depriving ministers of their briefs, perks and seats at the top table can have adverse consequences.
Now facing a vote of no confidence called by the Scottish Conservatives – which the Greens made sure everyone knew they would return to the fold – Mr Yousaf was out of friends and out of luck.
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He tried to turn on the charm with the other parties, reaching out with a love letter that appealed for calm, common ground and collegiality from the other parties in Holyrood.
Perhaps Mr Yousaf would have passed around the proverbial bag of sick cold despite all the good his overtures did.
“A disgraceful and embarrassing letter, in which Humza Yousaf begs to keep her job,” responded the leader of the Conservatives in Scotland, Douglas Ross.
The leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Alex Cole-Hamilton, also rejected the offer of talks, telling Mr Yousaf: “Your actions last week have completely eroded any remaining trust that you had enjoyed across the chamber.
“They suggest that, rather than being motivated by the national interest, you are currently motivated only by your own self-interest and by political survival.”
Scottish Labor simply said that Humza Yousaf had lost the confidence of Parliament and the public, and that there was “nothing” he could do to change anyone’s mind about that.
That left one gambit – a deal with Ash Regan, the SNP defector who switched to Alba after falling out with Mr Yousaf’s administration.
Perhaps he tried to convince Ms Regan that his answer of “no big loss” was a misquote on hearing about her deficiency, and that he was saying “No! A big loss!” – but whatever the result of his approach, the attempt came to nothing.
It has been reported that the leader of Alba, Alex Salmond, is hoping for an ‘independence agreement’ with the SNP in return for his party’s support which could see just one nationalist candidate standing for some seats.
Mr Salmond said the “top line” of any discussion about support for Regan could be the idea of ​​reviving the Scotland United strategy – which would see one pro-independence candidate standing in every constituency in Scotland.
Clearly, this was a line that Mr Yousaf was not happy with, and he threw in the towel rather than trading his “values ​​and principles or he deals with whoever to retain power”.
And so began his lonely march to the podium of resignation. He did not thank any of his party colleagues personally, referring instead to the wider “SNP family”.
But he thanked his wife and children, growing emotional as he did so. Hopefully with tears of happiness, amid the dawning realization that he will get to spend much more time with them in the future.
