Ash Regan: Humza Yousaf’s defeated leadership rival could hold the key to his political fate

Published

9 months ago

April 26, 2024

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This has become a political bloodbath for Humza Yousaf.

He began the day under pressure to stamp his authority at the looming prospect of the SNP’s government partners, the Greens, walking away in a row over ditched climate targets and growing scepticism of the Cass report on gender identity services for children.

The SNP leader and Scotland’s first minister wanted to reset the narrative, to show he is in control. He hauled Green ministers in for an 8am appointment, which I understand was very tense. They were sacked on the spot.

In a hastily-arranged news conference, Mr Yousaf told me I was wrong to suggest he is not really pulling the strings. Let’s remember he had hailed the SNP-Green alliance as “worth its weight in gold” fewer than 48 hours earlier.

Whatever his early morning intentions, it is not unreasonable to suggest it has spectacularly backfired.

His SNP premiership is in peril, with the newly-ousted Greens promising to back the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats in a vote of no confidence next week.

One Green source told me: “We’re going to f*** them for this.”

It is mind-blowing that this is a party which was partly running the country fewer than 24 hours ago.

If we cast our minds back to the bitter SNP leadership campaign last year, the loser Ash Regan quit the party months later and defected to Alex Salmond’s Alba Party.

She has sat on the fringes of Holyrood ever since, ignored by her former colleagues.

There was talk of her even being moved to a cupboard-style office. Some within the SNP completely washed their hands of her and almost brushed her off as a joke.

The irony is that Ms Regan is now likely to have the casting vote, given the SNP is now a minority administration and the rest of the opposition have confirmed they are plotting to oust the beleaguered first minister.

Ms Regan finds herself as possibly the most powerful woman in Scotland.

Alba insiders have told me her demands could include the Scottish government ditching the controversial gender recognition reforms completely.

The prospect of Mr Yousaf possibly looking at bowing to a party with one Holyrood politician is embarrassing at best and a full-scale humiliation at worst. But will it happen?

The SNP has its fair share of troubles, given the current police probe examining its finances, but Thursday’s developments take everything to a whole new level.

Critics suggest it calls into question the entire strategy in the government engine room and leaves the leadership drowning in chaos.

Is a Holyrood election on the cards? We could find out next week.

Politics

Tulip Siddiq faces new corruption investigation in Bangladesh

Published

3 hours ago

January 14, 2025

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Tulip Siddiq faces new corruption investigation in Bangladesh

Anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq has been named by investigators in Bangladesh who allege she was involved in the illegal allocation of land to members of her family while serving as an MP.

Sky News has obtained an affidavit – or legal written statement – filed by the anti-corruption commission in Bangladesh that accuses Ms Siddiq and others of being involved in fraudulently obtaining plots in the diplomatic zone of a development near to the country’s capital Dhaka.

The document states: “While serving as a Member of the British parliament, it is known that [Ms Siddiq] exerted pressure and influence on her aunt, the former prime minister, to take measures for the allotment of plots in the same project in the names of her mother, Mrs Rehana Siddiq, her sister Ms Azmina Siddiq, and her brother Mr Radwan Mujib Siddiq.”

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The director general of the Bangladesh Anti-Corruption Commission Akhtar Hossain told Sky News: “Tulip Siddiq and former prime minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina misused… power to take the plot from the Purbachal New Town Project.”

Investigators allege that planning officials were bribed and pressured into fraudulently allocating land.

A Labour source said Tulip Siddiq totally refutes the claims and had not been contacted by anyone on the matter.

The source also said no evidence had been presented for the allegations.

Tulip Siddiq had already been named in Bangladeshi court documents, also seen by Sky News, relating to alleged embezzlement from a nuclear power project in the country.

Labour sources suggested the accusations were not genuine.

That court claim was made by Bobby Hajjaj, a political opponent of Ms Siddiq’s aunt – the former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Ms Hasina fled Bangladesh in August and resigned her post amid weeks of deadly protests.

The new government has since accused the previous Awami League administration of crimes and corruption while in office.

Tulip Siddiq has come under increasing pressure over her links to her aunt’s political party, with Sky News revealing she boasted about her connections to the Awami League in blog posts from 2008 and 2009.

The anti-corruption minister has also been found to have lived in several London properties with links to alleged allies of her aunt’s regime.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has since called for her to be suspended as a minister.

The UK Anti-Corruption Coalition has also said Ms Siddiq should step aside from the money laundering and economic crime brief she currently holds.

“The clear conflict of interest surrounding Tulip Siddiq presents a key test for the new government… as anti-corruption experts, it is clear to us that she should not hold responsibility for these sensitive areas in her portfolio”, said Peter Munro, senior coordinator at the anti-corruption coalition.