Humza Yousaf: Scotland’s first Muslim leader

Humza Yousaf on Monday won the race to become Scotland’s new leader, its youngest and first from a minority ethnic background, charged with reviving a faltering independence movement after Nicola Sturgeon’s long tenure.

Yousaf emerged victorious with 52 per cent of Scottish National Party (SNP) members’ preferentially ranked votes, following a divisive three-way leadership battle triggered by Sturgeon’s surprise resignation announcement last month.

He is set to be sworn in as first minister on Wednesday, becoming the first ethnic minority leader of a devolved government and the first Muslim to lead a major UK party.

The 37-year-old will also be Scotland’s youngest leader, taking the helm months after Rishi Sunak became the youngest UK prime minister in modern times when he entered Downing Street aged 42.

Yousaf vowed to continue pursuing the SNP’s central policy — independence for Scotland — which Sturgeon has championed since the party lost a 2014 referendum on the issue.

“We will be the generation that delivers independence for Scotland,” Yousaf said in his victory speech, adding in subsequent interviews that he would formally request that the UK government allow another vote.

WHO IS HUMZA YOUSAF?

Yousaf is the son of first-generation immigrants. His father was born in Pakistan and his mother was born into a family of Punjabi descent in Kenya. He attended a private school in Glasgow and studied politics at Glasgow University.

He worked in a call centre before becoming an aide to Alex Salmond, former first minister of Scotland. He was elected to the Scottish Parliament as an additional member for the Glasgow region in 2011. After his win, Yousaf took his oath in English and Urdu.

The next year, he entered the Scottish cabinet, serving various roles, with the latest one being the country’s health secretary.

He married former SNP worker Gail Lythgoe in 2010, but they divorced seven years later. He married his second wife Nadia El-Nakla in 2019.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Kashmir Monitor staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)