“Gradually, then suddenly,” replies a character in Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, on being asked how he went bankrupt. Something to that effect has just been experienced by Scotland’s first minister, Humza Yousaf, who stood down on Monday after seeing his political currency dwindle to zero in a matter of days.
Less than a week after ending the Scottish National party’s pact with the Scottish Greens, which gave him his majority in Holyrood, Mr Yousaf fell on his sword after discovering that no viable plan B was available that included him at the helm. As he frankly admitted on Monday during an emotional press conference, Mr Yousaf grievously miscalculated in believing it would be possible to unexpectedly bin the cooperation agreement with the Greens, summarily dismiss the party’s co-leaders from his government, and then rely on their support for an SNP-minority administration. It was an inept piece of brinkmanship from a politician who, while clearly a decent man, has not convincingly navigated his party through ever-choppier waters following the resignation of Nicola Sturgeon last February.
