So, in an SNP leadership contest that became a pitting of competence against progressive values, progressive values won out. Humza Yousaf – who has billed himself as the continuity candidate, the torchbearer for Nicola Sturgeon’s liberal agenda – came through in the end, although by a tighter margin than any new leader of a party would want. Those members for whom Kate Forbes’s views on sexual and LGBTQ+ equality were a red line – and who had pledged to tear up their membership cards if she was victorious – can breathe a sigh of relief. Ditto the wider central belt, left-of-the-party supporters, who had viewed the prospect of a fiscal and social lurch to the right with dismay.
It’s true that with Yousaf there will be less immediate upheaval. As the “establishment” candidate, he already has the support of the majority of MSPs and ministers. He will find it easier than Forbes would have done to form a cabinet, and his election makes it unlikely the Greens will walk out of their powersharing deal, as they had already threatened to do if Forbes became first minister.
