Scotland’s new first minister, Humza Yousaf, is the first Muslim leader of a Western democracy. He is the millennial son of immigrants from Pakistan. He is a politician who joined the SNP in the wake of its opposition to the Iraq War.
He is also the first person in the role who wasn’t elected to the then-new Scottish parliament in 1999: now 37, he was only 14 at the time. His arrival marks a generational handover – far more so than when Nicola Sturgeon replaced Alex Salmond in 2014 – with the children of devolution taking over.
That sense is accentuated not just by Sturgeon’s departure to the back benches, but also by her long-term deputy John Swinney easing towards early retirement. The leaders of all three opposition parties are also relatively young.
