Humza Yousaf's driving skills appear to be as bad as his ministerial record – John McLellan

I’ll shift independence into fifth gear, declared new SNP leader Humza Yousaf, but as every driver knows if you’re barely out of first you’re likely to stall.
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From driving without insurance to tripping over his scooter, Mr Yousaf is well acquainted with road hazards, but perhaps leadership campaign momentum has led him to believe he’s cruising in fourth and the independence movement is doing the same. At risk of stretching the metaphor too far, drivers also know dropping down a gear is a better way to inject speed, unless you’re behind the wheel of a turbo-charged machine, which the last month has shown the SNP to be anything but.

There is little argument that in her pomp, Nicola Sturgeon enjoyed electoral success on a par with the Mercedes grand prix team, but as the German team found out last season, even with the star driver at the wheel, a winning team can turn into a back-marker. To his great credit, Mr Yousaf is at the pinnacle of Scottish politics, but while his old boss’s force of personality enabled under-performance to be masked, he now faces a huge challenge to show real leadership when most of the political supports on which his predecessor could rely have gone or are going.

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As well as appointing a Cabinet, there’s a new chief political adviser, party chief executive and communications chief to find, as well as working out how to manage what’s clearly a very divided party, and appointing Ms Sturgeon’s close friend Shona Robison as Deputy First Minster isn’t just confirmation of him being the continuity candidate but a badge of honour and a necessary prop.

Humza Yousaf's driving metaphor about independence suggests he may need to resit his test  (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)Humza Yousaf's driving metaphor about independence suggests he may need to resit his test  (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
Humza Yousaf's driving metaphor about independence suggests he may need to resit his test (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

It won’t be lost on him that, including the registered members who didn’t vote, he was the first choice of only a third of the party – hardly a ringing endorsement from a movement he would have us believe is on the cusp of achieving what is not just its primary goal, but the only thing holding it together.

His closest rival was endorsed by just 29 per cent of the membership, but so wide was the smile on Kate Forbes’ face when the result was announced, she looked almost overjoyed not to be handed what many observers reckon might be just a marginally longer stint as First Minster than the ill-fated Henry McLeish. In fact, it’s hard to imagine her looking happier if she’d actually won, perhaps thinking her Cabinet place was secure, but the smile would have gone when the reward for her withering attacks on Mr Yousaf’s record during the hustings was the chop from her finance job.

Her parting gift is a handy summary of Mr Yousaf’s underwhelming ministerial record, and perhaps it was all a cunning plan to lower the electorate’s expectations. But trying to demote her to rural affairs and sacking her campaign manager Ivan McKee made him look vindictive, not decisive. So much for party reunification.

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With his last day as Health Secretary marked by another increase in A&E waiting times: only 62.9 per cent of patients were seen within four hours against 86.6 per cent when he started the job. Expectations could not be lower and even mediocrity might be an achievement.

Fifth gear is only really needed for motorways, so Mr Yousaf might need to re-sit his test.

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