Humza Yousaf says he should have offered Kate Forbes a better job
Humza Yousaf and Kate Forbes contested the SNP leadership in 2023
- Published
Scotland's former First Minster Humza Yousaf has admitted he regrets the way he handled offering his leadership rival Kate Forbes a position in his cabinet.
Yousaf won the SNP leadership election in early 2023 after a bitter contest that saw Forbes attack his political record in a TV debate.
Yousaf, who only lasted just over a year in the job, told former Conservative minister Michael Gove - during a recording of the new BBC radio series Surviving Politics - that he had been good friends with Forbes and was surprised by her personal attacks on him.
He told Gove that Forbes, who had been cabinet secretary for finance, saw the offer of the rural affairs portfolio as a demotion and he should have discussed what role she thought was enough.
Humza Yousaf was speaking to Michael Gove on a new BBC radio series
After the surprise resignation of long-serving first minister Nicola Sturgeon at the start of last year, Yousaf, Forbes and Ash Regan emerged as the three candidates to succeed her.
In the first live TV debate, Forbes went on the attack - trashing Yousaf's record as a Scottish government minister.
She said: "You were a transport minister and the trains were never on time, when you were justice secretary the police were stretched to breaking point, and now as health minister we've got record high waiting times."
Yousaf told Gove that during rehearsals for the debate his advisors had prepped him by asking tough, personal questions.
He said his response to them had been: "She’s not going to do that. Kate and I are friends and we go way back."
Humza Yousaf hugs Kate Forbes after being announced as the new leader of the SNP
When Yousaf claimed a narrow victory, he offered Forbes a switch from one of the most important jobs in government to rural affairs.
"I reflect on this a fair bit and I think ultimately, truth be told, I didn't get it right," Yousaf said.
Forbes, who was an MSP for a rural area and was passionate about the issues, saw the job as a demotion.
She listened to the offer and said she would consider it, Yousaf said.
He said two or three minutes after Forbes left the office, a member of his team showed him a tweet from The Times newspaper saying Forbes had told him "where to shove it," he said.
The staff member told Yousaf: 'I think you've got your answer'."
Yousaf said he had since reflected on how he handled the situation.
"I think it would have made sense to have spoken more to Kate about, 'well, look, what role do you think you can do, you want to do and it’s seen as enough?'," Yousaf said.
"I wouldn't suggest rural affairs at all as a demotion, but that's the way it was viewed and portrayed."
- Published8 March 2023
- Published8 March 2023
Yousaf ended up resigning as Scotland’s first minister in May after the collapse of a power sharing deal at Holyrood between his party and the Greens sparked a furious backlash.
That same month Forbes accepted the role of deputy first minster, which was offered to her by Yousaf’s successor, John Swinney.
Yousaf told the BBC programme that he had been in favour of the deal with the Greens, known as the Bute House Agreement, which was negotiated by Nicola Sturgeon after the 2021 Scottish Parliament election.
But he admitted that the deal had deteriorated during his time in charge.
He said: "Every issue, no matter how kind of nuanced, suddenly became engulfed in controversy and disinformation." He was eventually left with no option but to resign.
Yousaf lamented a lack of true friendships in politics, saying that people he grew up with, played football with and went for dinner with were the real friendships.
Gove also admitted that sadness over broken and bruised friendships in his political career was one of the reasons he was glad he was no longer a politician.