Yousaf shoves his near rival Kate Forbes off to the backbenches
by TBG
There was less media opprobrium directed at Yousaf for his own controversial opinions. The Pakistani-origin politician is infamous for attacking the majority whiteness of Scotland
Humza Yousaf, who has recently taken over from Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister of Scotland has dispatched his leadership rival Kate Forbes by offering her a humiliating demotion. She was at the time the Finance Secretary, one of the most senior roles in government. Yousaf instead offered her the role of Rural Affairs and Islands, effectively rusticating her into a less visible junior role. News reports from insiders suggest that Forbes' smiles evaporated after her initial congratulations as she "told him where to stick it" and will now sit without a ministerial portfolio on the backbenches. Keep your enemies close, Yousaf.
Kate Forbes was said to be more popular in polling with the almost completely white Scottish population: in the last declared Census results Scotland was 98% White (92% of British origin, whilst slightly less among schoolchildren, numbering 89% all White). This popularity was only marginally less with SNP members where Yousaf won the vote on a 70% turnout, receiving 52% of the votes, compared to Forbes' 48%, a slim difference.
Forbes wasn't dented by a vicious media campaign attacking her orthodox Christian views as a member of the Free Church of Scotland, a presbyterian branch. She is a known opponent of abortion on demand and has been critical of the LGBT and radical gender ideology agendas. She had earlier worked for Christian Aid an organisation that campaigns on these issues. So far, so normal.
There was less media opprobrium directed at Yousaf for his own controversial opinions. The Pakistani-origin politician had something of a reputation for using ethnic grievance claims for politicking. The reason he - unusually for an Asian Muslim - entered politics, was to represent his own community at the behest of his father, who he describes as a "typical economic migrant" who counselled him that the "the British Asian community needed more representation and so politics would be a good choice." He became infamous in this pursuit, by attacking the majority whiteness of Scotland as reflected in the senior leadership roles across the nation. He venomously spat out the phrase "white" 19 times in his denunciation of the white status quo. This viral speech was reshared across social media after he had won the competition.
Breaking: The Scottish National Party has elected Humza Yousaf to lead, making him the first Muslim & person of south Asian background to head the Scottish government. In his speech, he said migrants should be celebrated. In 2020, he delivered a tirade in parliament complaining… pic.twitter.com/NoPnwosEgC
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) March 27, 2023
His family had also threatened a nursery both through the civil courts as well as from his high-profile public platform, imperilling their reputation. They had launched a potentially bankrupting £30,000 civil claim over allegations of discrimination after an application to the nursery informed his wife that there was no capacity for their child. Shortly after this, lots of new applications were made with non-foreign names which the Yousaf family curiously were informed about and which they suggested had proven bias. A subsequent Care Inspectorate report dismissed discrimination claims and the legal case was dropped. It eventuated that the nursery owner herself was also South Asian. Yousaf had also driven a blasphemy law and anti-speech law through the Scottish parliament in the guise of the Hate Crimes Law, 2021. It's still not clear when the law will start to be policed.
Shortly after Yousaf was confirmed as First Minister of Scotland by Holyrood, he posted an image of himself leading his male-only family members in an Islamic prayer dua for the breaking of the Ramadan fast ('Thirst is gone, the veins are moistened and the reward is certain if Allah wills') which many took as a triumphant signal after downplaying his religious convictions during the leadership competition. It was shot from Bute House, the residence of the Scottish First Minister and the former home of the Marquess of Bute.
Previously, Yousaf combined a role as an SNP politician and adviser to ousted SNP Leader Salmond, by being the Director of Public Affairs at the Scottish Islamic Foundation (SIF). In this role, he helped bring radical Islamists into Scotland to meet with political leaders, one of whom was a Hamas leader. His Scottish government friends were so impressed with Yousaf that they gave his group £400,000. When Yousaf was later given the role of Head of External Affairs for the Scottish government, he gave another £400,000 to an Islamic activist group, Islamic Relief, with connections to the Muslim Brotherhood. There was more than a religious conflict of interest here as Yousaf had previously been the Media Spokesman for the group.
After his ascension, it was noted that in Britain, an ancestral European nation, the head of the UK government (Rishi Sunak) the head of the Scottish Parliament (Humza Yousaf), and the Mayor Of London, the UK's capital city (Sadiq Khan), are all now held by people whose family origins are from outside of Britain and who all emanate from the Indian subcontinent. This trend is also reflected in Ireland, with the 'Taoiseach' the Prime Minister role held by Leo Vardkar, who is mixed race but with a father who comes from Bombay.
We have therefore, as others have remarked, curiously experienced the position where the Hindu Indian-origin Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Sunak, has just rejected the Muslim Pakistani-origin First Minister Yousaf's demand to potentially tear up the constitution of the United Kingdom by allowing another independence referendum in Scotland that would abolish both the 1707 Act of Union as well as the 1603 Union of the Crowns.
How readers feel about this unprecedented situation will of course all depend on how you feel about the wider demographic transformation of the United Kingdom and who you feel is an appropriate representative to govern majority European populations. We are all, of course, familiar with how the modern progressive concept of 'inclusion' is used to compel institutions to reflect the populace being governed.
How this will now play out democratically, remains to be seen. Polls in the days before Yousaf's win put the Scottish National Party of which he's head on 43% of the vote. With other ructions within the wider SNP over nepotism and misuse of funds adding to the torment, the future vote share is now more questionable.