Humza Yousaf has acknowledged that “everybody” wondered if the real reason for Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation was because she knew that she and her husband were about to be arrested as part of the police inquiry into Scottish National party finances.
In his first appearance at the Edinburgh festival fringe as Scotland’s first minister, Yousaf also admitted he had felt “a little bit” las if he had ended up answering for issues around party transparency that were not his fault.
But, he told the interviewer, Matt Forde, that he “genuinely believed” Sturgeon when she said she had no idea of the direction of the police investigation, and he had never found her to be dishonest or untruthful.
Speaking at a session of Matt Forde’s Political Party, he was asked whether the arrests of Sturgeon’s husband, the former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell; the former party treasurer Colin Beattie; and then Sturgeon herself, had made him question whether his predecessor’s explanation for resigning in February, which focused on the relentless nature of the job, was genuine.
Yousaf replied: “I think everybody has that thought. But I genuinely believe Nicola when she says – and we’ve not talked about the police investigation, but going by her public commentary – ‘I did not know what was going to happen’, and it’s the stuff of absolute nightmares for her.”
Asked by Forde, a radio presenter and podcaster, how he felt about the view among some voters that “this isn’t your fault and now you’re the guy having to answer for it”, Yousaf said: “[I feel like that] a little bit, but the view I’ve got on these things is you’re in control of what you’re in control of, so you deal with that.”
Joking about the poor timing of the arrests of Murrell and Beattie, which he said occurred as he was attempting to shift focus to his own policy agenda in his early weeks in the post, he added: “The most frustrating part for me is the inability to get cut-through for what I’m trying to do.”
All three of those arrested were released without charge pending further investigation. Sturgeon has denied any wrongdoing.
In a relaxed encounter, Yousaf also said – to applause – that he hoped his presence as the first Muslim first minister of Scotland would encourage others to “say ‘fuck you’” to voices telling them they didn’t belong in the political realm because of their colour, gender or background.
And he revealed that he had been unable to draw Rishi Sunak – whom he described as “robotic and scripted” – into conversation about their shared heritage.
Yousaf underlined that, “despite the most difficult months for my party in modern history”, the SNP were still leading in the polls, albeit with a far narrower lead over Scottish Labour, which he agreed was a threat: “That’s why I’m out every weekend knocking doors.”
Saying he did not see “a big shift in SNP voters to Labour”, he added: “Our big challenge will be to motivate SNP voters to come out on the [general election] day.”
Yousaf told Forde the best result for Scotland at the next general election would be “a Labour minority government where SNP MPs are able to make sure Scotland’s not forgotten about”.
He also said that, as a father of daughters, he wanted men to take responsibility in tackling violence against women and girls. Rather than “pontificating” on toxic masculinity, he said he wanted those in positions of power to show leadership in asking why young men were so angry, why they were gravitating towards figures such as the social media influencer Andrew Tate, and what a positive male identity looked like.
