Politics

So now we know: Scotland will get its new leader on 27 March. The rules that will determine how Sturgeon’s successor – and Scotland’s sixth First Minister – will be chosen, were thrashed out by the party’s National Executive Committee on Thursday night. Nominations are now open and will close a week today. The ballot will then open to members on 13 March followed by a fortnight of voting. The election will take just over five weeks – half the length of the SNP’s last contested election when Alex Salmond returned to power in 2004. Candidates will need to win the backing of 100 members from at least 20 branches

The Daily Record has reported that Humza Yousaf, currently the Scottish health secretary, will stand for election to succeed Nicola Sturgeon as leader of the SNP and First Minister of Scotland. The 37-year-old Sturgeon ally is said to believe he can unite the party and a source tells the paper he has ‘a lot of support from MPs and MSPs’.  If Yousaf did replace Sturgeon, it would be a landmark moment for Scotland Yousaf’s views on the constitution and gender identity are indistinguishable from Sturgeon’s and he can expect to be considered a continuity candidate. He is also a seasoned media performer, though no stranger to the occasional on-camera mishap. The Record says

Nicola Sturgeon always knew how to play the London media like a fiddle. Progressive views, plain speaking, ‘detesting’ the Tories – what was there not to like? Whenever she was in a tight corner at home, a friendly interviewer could be found in the otherwise hated imperial capital to offer an easy ride. Much of this has been in evidence since she announced her impending resignation. Robert Peston trilled on Twitter: ‘Whether or not you back her ideas and convictions, she has been one of the most important politicians of this generation. Her call for less irrationality and hysteria in politics should be heeded.’ Her failure lay in a distinctly

Political leaders are like tribal chiefs and one way of assessing their fortunes is by counting up the number of heads they have accumulated from the toppled leaders of rival tribes. Tony Blair had the shrunken skulls of John Major, William Hague, Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Howard threaded around his waist when he left the stage. Sunak never gave the SNP leader grounds to caricature him as an arrogant Sassenach It undoubtedly enhanced Keir Starmer’s authority when Boris Johnson was brought down, though his part in the immolation of Liz Truss soon afterwards was less obvious. On this basis, Rishi Sunak is entitled to point to a modest enhancement

Reading some of the tributes from English luvvies yesterday, you would have had no idea that Nicola Sturgeon was anything less than perfect. The great and the good in the media world were tripping over themselves to call her a stateswoman, praising her tone, grace and composure rather than her lack of substantive achievements. Still, there was one familiar face who had no compunction in calling Sturgeon out on her multiple blunders.  These days Donald Trump’s statements receive somewhat less traction now he’s no longer on Twitter. Still, Mr S did enjoy reading the former president’s brutal assessment of the outgoing First Minister, replete with the usual mix of adjectives,

The war in Ukraine changed fundamentally after Vladimir Putin failed to capture Kyiv and decapitate the regime there a year ago. His army settled into Russia’s traditional way of war: a slow, brutal, relentless slugfest. That strategy necessarily expends countless Russian lives. Human-wave attacks rely on untrained troops, dragooned from prisons or off the streets. The idea is to use these expendable men to weaken Ukraine’s front-line defences and then follow them with more sophisticated attacks by Russia’s battle-hardened troops. Risky as it is for Russia to double down, it is really the Kremlin’s only path to victory This strategy has cost countless lives on both sides while producing only