Humza Yousaf will replace Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader after beating Ash Regan and Kate Forbes in the contest.
The 37-year-old will be the youngest ever First Minister and the first person from an ethnic minority background to hold the role.
He has been an MSP since 2011, representing Glasgow Pollok since 2016. He has also been serving in the Scottish Government since 2012.
But who is Humza Yousaf?
Early years
Humza Yousaf was born in Glasgow in 1985. He is the son of first-generation immigrants. His father, Muzafar Yousaf, is from Pakistan, and his mother, Shaaista Bhutta, is from Kenya.
The pair came to the west of Scotland in the late 1960s and Muzafar was the first non-white member of the SNP when he joined in 1979.
Yousaf went to the Glasgow private school Hutcheson’s Grammar. He said that his Modern Studies classes at the school were what made him want to get involved in politics.
He studied politics at the University of Glasgow, graduating in 2007. It was during this time that he joined the SNP, after hearing Alex Salmond make an anti-war speech at the university.
He also worked in an O2 call centre for a few months during the summer of 2006.
Working for the SNP
Yousaf started campaigning extensively for the party soon after he joined. When the SNP became Scotland’s largest party and entered the Scottish Government for the first time in 2007, Yousaf became a parliamentary assistant to Glasgow MSP Bashir Ahmad.
He said that he initially “was swithering” over taking the job or not, but added that Nicola Sturgeon convinced him to do so.
Ahmad unexpectedly died of a heart attack in 2009 and Yousaf worked with his replacement Anne McLaughlin until later in the year.
He became a parliamentary assistant to then First Minister Salmond in October 2009. He held the position for nine months, before working as a communications officer at SNP headquarters.
He won the Future Force of Politics award at the 2009 Young Scottish Minority Ethnic Awards.
MSP and junior minister
Yousaf was elected as an MSP on the Glasgow list in 2011. He took his oath to the Queen in English and Urdu. Aged just 26, he was the youngest member elected to the Scottish Parliament at the time.
He joined the Scottish Government for the first time in September 2012, having been appointed as Minister for External Affairs and International Development.
This made him the first Scottish Asian and Muslim to be appointed as a minister to the Scottish Government.
He remained a junior minister when Nicola Sturgeon became First Minister in 2014, but his title changed to Minister for Europe and International Development.
In the 2016 Scottish Parliament election Yousaf won the Glasgow Pollok seat from former Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont with a majority of 6,482 votes.
When Sturgeon formed her second government, Yousaf was made Minister for Transport and the Islands.
He came under fire in his first year in the role because of mass delays and cancellations on Scotland’s railways. He had to publicly apologise for ScotRail failures and faced calls to resign.
He was also given a fine in 2016 after being caught driving without insurance.
Cabinet Secretary
Despite problems in his previous role, Yousaf was promoted to Cabinet Secretary for Justice in 2018.
The controversy continued as he introduced the Hate Crime Bill which aimed to protect minorities but was criticised for curbing freedom of speech.
Yousaf kept his Glasgow Pollok seat in 2021 with a majority of 7,105. He was appointed Health Secretary after the election, taking over from Jeane Freeman.
He has been blamed for long NHS waiting times and the stress the service is under, especially after he urged the public to “think twice” before calling 999 in 2021.
But Yousaf has pointed out that he managed to prevent strikes in NHS Scotland, unlike in England, by thrashing out a deal with union leaders.
Personal life
Yousaf was married to ex-SNP worker Gail Lythgoe from 2010 to 2016.
He married psychotherapist Nadia El-Nakla in 2019. He has one child and one stepchild.
He and El-Nakla made a complaint of discrimination after their daughter was not offered a place by a Dundee nursery in 2021.
The Care Inspectorate upheld the complaint after finding that the nursery "did not promote fairness, equality and respect" in terms of its admission policy.
Leadership campaign
Yousaf formally announced that he was standing to replace Sturgeon as SNP leader on February 18.
He gained endorsements from several big party figures including former Westminster leader Ian Blackford, Deputy First Minister John Swinney and Constitution Secretary Angus Robertson.
But he was criticised by former health minister Alex Neil for “asking to skip” a vote on gay marriage because of pressure from religious leaders.
Yousaf was announced as the new SNP leader at Murrayfield Stadium on Monday. He took 48 per cent of the vote in the first round and 52 per cent after the second round.
He will be sworn in as First Minister on Tuesday if all goes to plan.
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