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Humza Yousaf’s awkward Russia Today appearances

STIRLING, SCOTLAND - SEPTEMBER 11: Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf visits Techscaler on September 11, 2023 in Stirling, Scotland. Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf meets participants of the Techscaler program, which provides support for individuals in Scotland interested in the startup ecosystem. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell - Pool/Getty Images)

There’s nothing the Nats wouldn’t do to give their independence obsession a little more airtime. They’ll take the publicity from wherever they can get it – and that includes the pro-Putin Russia Today programme. It has emerged that First Minister Humza Yousaf appeared on the controversial channel twice in the past, first in 2013 and then again in 2017, when he was transport minister, after the annexation of Crimea. 

The SNP’s minister for Europe at the time, Yousaf talked in 2013 about how his party’s white paper on independence had helped people get ‘their questions answered’. ‘I’ve got no doubt at all the polls will continue in the trajectory that we continue to go up and the no campaign will continue to go down,’ he announced to the RT audience. Unfortunately for Yousaf, his predictions ended up falling more than a little short of the mark…

Not only did Yousaf get it wrong on independence, he also messed up his own numbers. ‘We’ve got 25 per cent of Europe’s wind energy… We’ve got 10 per cent of Europe’s tidal energy,’ he told show host Afshin Rattansi. Quoting debunked green energy figures, the SNP minister for Europe inadvertently spread misinformation on, er, Scotland’s share of Europe’s renewables. How very embarrassing…

Mistakes aside, at least Yousaf enjoyed himself. After his appearance on the show, he tweeted that the channel’s team, including his interviewer Rattansi, were a ‘good bunch’. This is the same Rattansi, Mr S notes, who took to Twitter this year to label Ukrainian soldiers ‘neo-Nazis’ fighting in a ‘proxy war’.

But SNP politicians are no strangers to RT: former first minister Alex Salmond announced he would be hosting his own TV show on the channel after he stepped down as SNP leader in 2014 — only pulling the programme after the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year. Let it not be said that good judgement runs in the lifeblood of the Scottish Nationalist party…

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Steerpike is The Spectator's gossip columnist, serving up the latest tittle tattle from Westminster and beyond. Email tips to steerpike@spectator.co.uk or message @MrSteerpike

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