If it wasn’t for bad luck, Humza Yousaf would have no luck at all. Even his fiercest political enemies must surely wonder what he’s got to do to catch an even break.

Since succeeding Nicola Sturgeon in March, the First Minister has endured a run of crises that make the achievement of his desire to lead Scotland look like a cautionary tale about the dangers of ambition.

The announcement that former SNP leader Alex Salmond is to sue the Scottish Government over its handling, in 2017, of allegations of sexual misconduct while he was in office is another devastating blow to Yousaf’s leadership. As the First Minister struggles to set his own political agenda, the list of things he needs does not include a court case which will set his predecessor against hers and – undoubtedly – exacerbate divisions in the SNP and the wider independence movement.

Scotland's First Minister Humza Yousaf has not had his troubles to seek. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Salmond, who has already received compensation from the Scottish Government for aspects of its handling of the case, now makes serious claims about the conduct of Sturgeon and other senior government figures. This is going to get ugly.

On Friday, Yousaf brave-faced it. The Scottish Government would “robustly” defend itself. In private, he must be in despair at this latest twist in the Scottish political soap opera.

After all, he’s barely had a moment to enjoy winning the SNP leadership. Within weeks of succeeding Sturgeon, there were those police raids, relating to allegations of financial impropriety under the previous Nat regime. Sturgeon, her husband Peter Murrell, and former party were all interviewed as suspects and the cops continue to investigate.

As if that wasn’t enough, Yousaf inherited the ongoing scandal of ferries, ordered and still uncompleted while costs soar, and a messy ongoing legal battle with the UK Government over reforms to the Gender Recognition Act. Oh, and colleagues who’d never have dared criticise Sturgeon decided that they were perfectly happy to make their views of Yousaf public.

Complaints against Alex Salmond still have no official outcome, the Scottish Government have said.

Early polls made grim reading for the new First Minister; more than half of Scots reckoned him weak.

In many ways, Yousaf was a most unfortunate victim of circumstance, powerless to control events. When Labour thrashed the SNP in October’s Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election, Yousaf took responsibility – as any leader should – but there was a ring of truth to claims from SNP activists that the police investigation had done for them.

But, while it’s absolutely the case that the First Minister continues to take collateral damage from matters over which he has no control, he’s not making life any easier for himself with some shockingly poor judgement in other areas.

Top of the list of Yousaf’s screw-ups is his baffling decision to stand by Health Secretary Michael Matheson, who claimed £11,000 in expenses for data run up on his iPad during a week-long family holiday in Morocco.

Matheson, as we know, initially insisted the charges were incurred, legitimately, in the course of his work as an MSP only to admit later that his sons had been using the device to stream football matches and agree to pay back the money claimed.

We’re three weeks into the scandal of Matheson’s expenses and it’s stubbornly refusing to go away. And the longer it drags on, the more damage it inflicts on Yousaf.

The First Minister has repeatedly tried to shut this issue down, insisting – time and again – that, as far as he was concerned, the matter was closed. It is just as well that Yousaf has been wrong every time he’s said that. After all, if the matter had been closed on the First Minister’s demand, we would never have known the truth about Matheson’s actions.

There is clear evidence that the Health Secretary, having learned the reason for the size of his data bill, went on – days latet – to lie to journalists, maintaining that there had been no personal use.

Yousaf’s loyalty to his colleague, commendable as some might believe it to be, should have ended then.

When the First Minister stood by a minister who lied, he made this an issue not only about Matheson’s integrity but also his own.

After all, if Humza Yousaf doesn’t believe Matheson lying to journalists and – by extension – the country to be an especially serious business, in what other areas does he think politicians should be allowed to get away with dishonesty?

There is now to be a completely unnecessary and inevitably damaging investigation into the Matheson affair by the Scottish Parliament’s Corporate Body. It’s unnecessary because we know what happened: the Health Secretary claimed thousands of pounds in expenses that he shouldn’t have and went on to lie when asked about the circumstances. And it’s damaging because it will string out, for another week or two, a story about a failing of integrity at the top of the Scottish Government.

If the inquiry finds Matheson behaved improperly, there will be repercussions. If it clears him, it’ll be accused – not unreasonably – of failing to take the matter seriously.

Sources close to the First Minister say that his view of this matter has been shaped by Matheson’s desire to protect his family. Yes, the Health Secretary has handled things badly but Yousaf understands his reasons. This is all terribly noble but sometimes compassion and politics simply don’t mix.

The truth is that the Matheson scandal has cut through to the wider public and the longer Yousaf protects his pal, the more he’ll embed the idea that he and his party are out of touch.

If the First Minister can’t bring himself to sack his Health Secretary, then Michael Matheson should take matters into his own hands, do the decent thing, and resign.

Humza Yousaf has more than enough woes piling up around him without frittering away what authority he has protecting a Health Secretary who’s dragging him down.

Euan McColm: Alex Salmond's latest intervention shows Humza Yousaf just can't catch a break

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