Humza Yousaf, author of Under Fire, an important and painfully honest testament, could never have flourished in Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, still less the Conservatives. As a proud Muslim and supporter of the Palestinian cause, that would have been out of the question. In the Scottish National Party, which embraced multiculturalism as its southern counterparts drifted towards coercive liberalism, he rose to the top.

Nicola Sturgeon encouraged him to stand for parliament and he became an MSP in 2011. Twelve years later, aged just 37, he was elected leader and appointed the youngest ever first minister of Scotland, making him the first Muslim leader of a western European country.

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This article appears in the 28 Oct 2026 issue of the New Statesman, Bin the Budget