Humza Yousaf’s kitchen cabinet signals more of the same from the SNP
SO it’s all over now, bar the shouting – the new SNP leader has been installed and he’s surrounded himself with a cabinet that wouldn’t be out of place in an old kitchen.
I’m not a fan of Humza Yousaf. I’ve always reckoned he thinks too much of himself, which was o
bvious during the leadership hustings. I thought it hilarious when Kate Forbes put him very firmly in his place during one of their debates, trashing his record in every government job he’s held.
She was correct there – can you imaging anybody in the private sector employing someone who had failed so abysmally in all their most recent jobs?
But he bounced back from that to win the race and pledged to reunite his party, which appeared more divided than ever after years of work by Nicola Sturgeon and her acolytes keeping their disagreements and splits well out of the public eye.
He was seen as the continuity candidate (ie more of the same) and we saw that with his cabinet of six women and three men – mainly allies of Nicola, including her close pal Shona Robison.
I do wonder what the new minister for independence, Jamie Hepburn, will do to justify his salary of up to £98,000 given the SNP’s total inertia on the issue since they came to power.
No wonder he’s smiling so heartily in every pic I’ve seen of him!
One thing Yousaf has not done is live up to the crap he spouted during pre- and post-election interviews regarding his contenders for the top job (keep your friends close and your enemies closer).
OK, he made Kate Forbes an offer she could quite easily (and did) refuse, apparently thinking that because she has a rural seat that she’d welcome a demotion to the rural affairs brief.
No chance!
What about his other rival for the leadership, Ash Regan? I don’t know if the new FM sees her as a particular threat, but in the latter days of the campaign there certainly appeared to be a groundswell of support for her as Yousaf and Forbes went for each other’s throats.
I’ve made no secret of my view that had I been a member of the party I would have voted for and probably campaigned for Ash, but I’m not so I didn’t.
I am surprised at Yousaf’s choice for energy minister – the potty-mouthed Aberdeenshire East MSP Gillian Martin – who apparently will never stop apologising: https://news.stv.tv/scotland/humza-yousaf-criticised-for-making-gillian-martin-minister-after-offensive-jokes-about-trans-and-black-people
That’s one that will come back to haunt him.
Pip pip.