Under Nicola Sturgeon’s leadership, the SNP was renowned for its discipline, unity and its impressive electoral success. Since the former first minister resigned, a series of revelations have chipped away at the party’s reputation leaving Scotland’s dominant party standing on shaky ground. If people had cared to look they would be forgiven for thinking that decay has always been present in the SNP – and the leaked video of the former first minister lecturing her politicians about SNP finances back in March 2021 doesn’t help matters – but it is the extent of the rot that is hard to stomach.
And no one feels this more than First Minister Humza Yousaf: barely in the post for three weeks after being elected as the establishment’s ‘continuity’ candidate, Yousaf is now desperately trying to distance himself from the ancien regime. Even before the party corruption had been exposed, Yousaf was not in the strongest of positions.
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