Achi news desk-
It came as a surprise to residents and to the reporters who expected Mr Yousaf to be in Glasgow.
However, word began to spread just before 9am that the planned visit to Strathclyde University had been suddenly shelved, becoming official just under an hour later.
Talk was also beginning to be made of a surprise visit to Dundee but the details were vague – a cynic could say that the short notice was an attempt to avoid the inevitable media scrum.
Despite a late call notice, the ploy failed and Mr Yousaf was facing a wall of cameras and questions in a small car park in the middle of the flat brown brick development.
If anyone thought there could be any depth of interest in the Scottish Government’s announcement of £80 million in funding for affordable housing and homelessness, they had something else in store.
The focus was entirely on the question of the week – will Mr Yousaf stay or will he go?
Will he end his relationship with the Prime Minister’s job before he is dumped from it? The SNP leader was strong throughout the questioning from successive reporters: he is not going anywhere. So he says now.
This, of course, was the Prime Minister trying to position his post-Greens government as one of practical issues, one that could address the issues voters really care about.
The SNP has been governing on the philosophy of #BeKind , a desperation to be “progressive” at all costs, despite a persistently vague idea of ​​what the word actually means.
On the contrary, housing is a tangible issue and one that is a far cry from culture war rhetoric.
An insider told The Herald there was a frantic scramble on Thursday for good news to announce. “When they came to us,” said the source, “We told them to get f*ck.”
Millions of pounds in funding may sound relatively simple in terms of good news but it does not come without its problems.
At a national level, the Scottish Government cut £196m from the country’s affordable housing budget; last month’s figures show that housing associations built the lowest number of new homes last year than at any time since 1988.
More locally, the Hillcrest project is years late, over budget and suffered initial problems during the construction process.
A trio of curious residents turned out to assess the row – two avowed SNP voters and a third who was not yet old enough to vote.
Gemma Donaldson, 29, and Georgia-Ann Barclay, 28, share a flat in the Hillcrest development after waiting four years for social rented housing to become available.
They are delighted with the property, as is their nine-month-old puppy Fry who assessed the media scrum with a fistful of chin and went for a nap.
What do they think of the breakdown in the relationship between the Scottish Greens and the SNP?
“I have always voted SNP,” said Ms Barclay, “Because they are inclusive. I like that they are working with the Greens in government and I am worried about what is happening now.”
Ms Donaldson, looking over to where Mr Yousaf was being grilled by the latest in a series of broadcast journalists, added: “She likes Nicola Sturgeon better.”
“Don’t say that,” said Ms Barclay, horrified to be heard. “Although it is true,” he added.
Last week Mr Yousaf lent his weight to a fundraising event organized by SNP MP Tommy Sheppard.
Held at Portobello Town Hall, the evening was presented by crime writer Val McDermid, whose questioning of Mr Sheppard and Mr Yousaf explored one or two of the series of recent issues that have plagued the Prime Minister . Little would he have realized that his job would be on the line exactly one week later. But, on what must feel like a lifetime ago, Ms McDermid asked him how he copes with the criticisms made as part of the job.
Criticisms said; Mr Yousaf referred to the “shit being thrown at him”.
In response, the FM said that he meditates every day and focuses on the positive things in his life. What are the positive features of his current position, the Herald asked Mr Yousaf in Dundee.
Apart from the £80m funding announcement.
“I am grateful for many things in life,” he said, referring to his little girl. “I woke up this morning with my four-year-old, soon to be five, in my bed and I managed to spend some time getting her ready for nursery, to brush her hair, to change her, to I already have it, so I’m grateful for all the things in my life – family, friends.
“But also I’m really grateful to … not only grateful … it’s a huge honor for me to be the leader, not only of my party, but of my country and my intention is to fight that vote of lack of confidence and I intend to. to win it.”
As he spoke, on the back of his jacket were three loose red threads and it almost feels unfair to mention them because the metaphor is too easy.
Mr Yousaf also said he was confident he had the support of his cabinet as the right person to lead the SNP through the upcoming general election and any possible snap Holyrood election forced by the two motions of no confidence.
“They have been sending me several messages,” he said, “And I have spoken to the MSP group and the ministerial group and a number of councilors as well and they fully agree that it is time moving on from the House of Bute Agreement.”
Mr Yousaf is now to face two motions of no confidence – one in his leadership, presented by the Scottish Tories; and one in his government, hosted by Scottish Labour.
One of the party’s insiders, who supports the end of the Bute House Agreement but not how the break-up was handled, told the Herald that they are less confident in Mr Yousaf’s future than the Prime Minister claims himself.
“It’s damned either way,” they said. “He can try to focus on these tangible issues like housing, but voters are mad at cynical moves.
“The party has been tainted by association with the frivolous passions of the Greens and Humza is now tainted, not only by association, but by hesitation when he should have been decisive and cut them loose.
“He’s trying to rebuild his reputation on a construction site. You don’t restore voters’ faith against a background where the jokes write themselves.”
