Last month, Nicola Sturgeon shook the political landscape when she announced she was stepping down as leader of the Scottish National Party and resigned unexpectedly. Candidates have been thrashing it out in a five-week battle to replace her ever since. And that race came to an end today when Humza Yousaf, the current Health Secretary, was announced as the new party leader after winning 52% of the vote.
In his first speech since winning, he said of taking the helm that he is ‘the luckiest man in the world'. The 37-year-old paid tribute to his rivals, Finance Secretary Kate Forbes, and former minister Ash Regan, saying ‘I know collectively we will continue to work hard as part of Team SNP.’
He will make history when he becomes Scotland’s youngest first minister, the first ever person from a minority ethnic background to hold the post and the first Muslim to lead a major UK party. This comes as Rishi Sunak is the first person of colour to be British Prime Minister.
Who is Humza Yousaf’s first wife?
In the rush to find out everything we can about the new SNP leader people started Googling: ‘Humza Yousaf first wife’. He was married to former SNP worker Gail Lythgoe from 2010 to 2016. In her Twitter bio she describes herself as working in ‘global law & governance’ and is a director of the Manchester International Law Centre. Yousaf blamed a fine and penalty points on the breakdown of his marriage in 2017. Whilst transport minister, he was fined £300 and handed six penalty points after he admitted driving a friend’s car without insurance. He said: ‘I paid the fine and told my insurers about the points. This was an honest mistake, and the result of my personal circumstances during my separation.’
Who is Humza Yousaf’s current wife?
In 2019, he married psychotherapist Nadia El-Nakla, with whom he has one child - a daughter called Amal - and one stepchild, as Nadia has a child from a previous relationship. Nadia was elected as an SNP councillor for Dundee in 2022 and represents the City West ward at the council. In 2021, the pair tried to sue a nursery in Scotland for £30,000 on discrimination charges, after they say they were told there was no space for their daughter but said applicants with ‘white Scottish-sounding names’ were accepted. The nursery denied the accusation and the couple dropped the case last month.
Yousaf is a a close ally of Nicola Sturgeon’s and he was labelled the ‘continuity’ candidate - pledging to build on the former first minister's work. Now for the task of healing the divisions in his party...