IS Humza doing well or badly as SNP leader and First Minister? After 144 days, what’s fair to think he might have already achieved?
means that the fallout of arrests, rumour, innuendo and uncertainty has been inherited by the new – not the “old” – first minister, even though he was not a signatory on those vexed SNP accounts.Like her, love her or loathe her, Nicola Sturgeon was a big personality, a definite force to be reckoned with. That force may formally have disappeared in the flash of a resignation speech – but it takes a lot longer to disappear from the Scottish body politic.
The new first minister over the last decade as a government minister – sorry Humza – absolutely none.Yes, there was a powerful speech at a National-organised rally at George Square in 2019, viewed by thousands in the crowd and thousands more on the livestream. But not enough to make a strong impression. Apart from that and the time he took his oath in English and Urdu as a new MSP in 2011, Humza has been as low-key as the rest of Nicola Sturgeon’s cabinet.
The decision to deal with that delicate situation immediately, personally and publicly was jaw-dropping and totally unprecedented by a new party leader – it spoke of a man either so reckless he barely hesitated before risking his reputation or so accustomed to mediating difficult situations that he knew his own intervention was both necessary and likely to be worthwhile. Or maybe a bit of both.
Perhaps that’s because an era of image, soundbites, presentation and ferocious debating skills did not advance independence or better governance in Scotland. We don’t really need more of the same – we need strategy, more open policy-making and a First Minister ready to stick to his guns, see off his critics and make a centrepiece of the Green Transition, the importance of independence to achieve it and the courage to raise taxes in Scotland to help redistribute wealth.
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