SNP’s Humza Yousaf branded ’embarrassing’ over leadership campaign gaffe which saw him ask female Ukrainian refugees why no men came to Scotland with them – while they remain bravely at home fighting off the Russian invaders
An SNP politician vying to become Scotland’s First Minister was branded ’embarrassing’ and ‘out of his depth today’ over comments to female Ukrainian refugees.
Humza Yousaf asked the group why no men had escaped from the warzone with them after they posed for photos in Edinburgh during his campaign to replace Nicola Sturgeon.
Ukrainian men who are of military age are largely forbidden to leave the country as the war with Russia continues. This means that the majority of the displaced Ukrainians arriving elsewhere in Europe are women, children or the elderly.
Mr Yousaf told the BBC a number of Ukrainian men were elsewhere in the building when he made the remark. He said in an interview later: ‘They of course were rightly saying to me that for many of them their families are not able to make it, not all of their families are able to make it. I don’t think any of the women were at all offended or upset.’
But opposition parties tore into the gaffe this afternoon, with Scottish Labour’s deputy leader Jackie Baillie saying: ‘This is further evidence that Humza Yousef is out of his depth. This is embarrassing.’
Humza Yousaf asked the group why no men had escaped from the warzone with them after they posed for photos in Edinburgh during his campaign to replace Nicola Sturgeon.
Mr Humza is narrowly the favourite to replace Ms Sturgeon as SNP leader and First Minister at the end of the month on an independence platform.
The Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton added: ‘From the man who would lead Scotland, this is clumsy and insensitive.
‘Many of these women could have male relatives fighting and dying on the Eastern front, defending not just Ukraine but the free democracies of our world. A worrying lack of awareness on display here.’
Mr Humza is narrowly the favourite to replace Ms Sturgeon as SNP leader and First Minister at the end of the month on an independence platform.
Membership of the SNP has plummeted by more than 30,000 in the past two years, the party has confirmed.
The figure was revealed as outgoing leader MsSturgeon stressed the party is not ‘in crisis’ as concerns were raised by two leadership candidates over the integrity of the vote to replace her.
The SNP hierarchy has been under pressure in recent days to release the membership figure, with all three candidates in the leadership race backing the move.
The party announced on Thursday that the membership had dropped to 72,186 as of February 15 this year, compared to 103,884 in 2021.
Membership sat at around 125,000 in 2018, meaning more than 50,000 party members have left in five years.
Ms Sturgeon today admitted the contest to elect her successor was ‘painful’ .
Leadership hopefuls Kate Forbes and Ash Regan have demanded an independent auditor be drafted in to oversee the election amid concerns about transparency.
Both have also asked questions about the role of Ms Sturgeon’s husband, Peter Murrell, who is the SNP’s chief executive.
Mr Yousaf, a close ally of Ms Sturgeon, has been branded the ‘party machine candidate’ – after being backed by many SNP big-hitters – and is seen as the frontrunner in the contest between him, Ms Forbes and Ms Regan.
Nicola Sturgeon could not hide a smile in the Scottish Parliament when those hoping to succeed her as First Minister were compared to supporters of Donald Trump
Ms Sturgeon this afternoon dismissed concerns about the leadership contest, saying they were not ‘justified’ and that the SNP was following a ‘tried and trusted’ process.
She also could not hide a smile when those hoping to succeed her as First Minister were compared to supporters of Donald Trump, who have claimed the 2020 US presidential election was ‘stolen’ from him.
Ms Sturgeon was seen smirking during First Minister’s Questions when Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar mocked the state of the SNP leadership contest.
He told the Scottish Parliament: ‘Rather the confronting the NHS crisis, we have an SNP talking to themselves about themselves.
‘In fact it seems the only things missing from this SNP leadership election is an Ash Regan press conference outside the Four Seasons, or maybe a Saltire-waving ‘Stop The Steal’ rally by Kate Forbes outside Holyrood.
‘And, meanwhile, the machine candidate – the incompetent Humza Yousaf – is presiding over chaos in Scotland’s NHS.’
As Mr Trump made baseless allegations of electoral fraud in November 2020, his lawyer Rudy Giuliani gave a remarkable press conference outside a Philadephia business known as ‘Four Seasons Total Landscaping’.
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