Why former SNP first ministers should not consider their careers a failure

They say all political careers end in failure, and it is hard not to think of this in relation to former SNP First Ministers as 2024 draws to a close. Humza Yousaf announced this week that he does not intend to stand in the next Scottish Parliament election.

Nicola Sturgeon has been reflecting on her time in Bute House as she writes her memoir, due to be published in August next year. And the sudden death in October of Alex Salmond has thrust his legacy and achievements into the spotlight.

There was broad agreement in the aftermath of Salmond’s death that he was one of, if not the most, effective politicians the SNP has had. He took the party from the fringes to the mainstream. Having secured power by the narrowest of margins in 2007, he convinced Scottish voters the SNP could be a competent party of government.

Humza Yousaf announces his resignation as First Minister and SNP leader in April this year | Getty Images

Turning point for Salmond

In 2011 he achieved a feat that Holyrood had been designed to prevent – an overall majority of MSPs. This was enough to persuade the UK Government there should be an independence referendum, and Salmond then won more support for his side than many of his opponents had thought feasible.

In his case, it is easy to pinpoint where it all went wrong – the referendum defeat. His record as leader was then tarnished by revelations in court about his behaviour towards colleagues and by his decision to host a TV programme on Russian broadcaster RT.

Sturgeon holds the record of being Scotland’s longest-serving first minister, having been in office for more than eight years. Of course her election-winning record is remarkable, but other notable achievements are harder to discern.

Perhaps setting out her legacy in her as-yet untitled memoir is proving an onerous and time-consuming task. This might explain why she has spoken in the Holyrood chamber just four times this year.

John Swinney and Nicola Sturgeon chat with Humza Yousaf after he delivered his farewell speech as First Minister at the Scottish Parliament in May | Getty Images

Gender Bill ‘debate’

In interviews this week, Sturgeon singled out legislation allowing same-sex couples to marry as one of Holyrood’s top five achievements, acknowledging it was passed before she became First Minister.

She also pointed to an issue many believe contributed to her unexpected resignation in March 2023 – the backlash against the SNP’s abortive Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, which would have introduced gender self-identification.

Sturgeon told the Guardian: “There were forces that muscled into that debate who, I think, you know, had a bigger agenda in terms of rights more generally.” At least she acknowledged that there is a debate, which by extension means the existence of alternative views that should be discussed.

Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond on the general election campaign trail in Inverurie in April 2015 | Getty Images

This is in contrast with her position in September 2021 when she said women’s safety concerns over the proposed reforms were “not valid”.

She went further in a January 2023 interview with The News Agents podcast by claiming opponents were using “women’s rights as a sort of cloak of acceptability to cover up what is transphobia”. She said: “Just as they’re transphobic, you’ll also find that they’re deeply misogynist, often homophobic, possibly some of them racist as well.”

Observable reality

It was perhaps a more widely held view among Scots than Sturgeon realised that people can believe what they like but the fact that they hold these beliefs is no reason why everyone else should too – especially if they are at odds with observable reality and the rights of women and girls.

The incoherence of Sturgeon’s ideology was most obviously exposed in her response to the initial housing of a double rapist in a women’s prison. To dismiss those with “gender critical” views in the way she did displayed a level of authoritarian intolerance that characterised her leadership.

This was also in evidence, for example, in some of her responses to reasonable questions from journalists during her Covid briefings, and in leaked video footage in which she warned senior party members against suggesting there were concerns about SNP finances.

Critics complained of intolerant control-freakery that brooked no dissent. She had a tendency to micromanage from within a small and tightly-knit band of loyalists. Perhaps this was why there was no obvious successor when she unexpectedly quit.

Rash decisions

In contrast, Yousaf never seemed in control of events during his brief but calamitous interregnum. A stinging rebuke from rival Kate Forbes during a TV SNP leadership debate stuck with him. She said: “You were a transport minister and the trains never ran on time, when you were Justice Secretary, the police were stretched to breaking point, and now as health minister we’ve got record high waiting times.”

Yousaf had a tendency to shoot from the lip and make rash decisions. He admits he could have handled things better when he ended the SNP’s power-sharing deal by unceremoniously turfing Scottish Greens co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater out into the street from Bute House. But he deserves credit for becoming the first Scot from an ethnic minority background to become first minister – a legacy of which he can be proud.

One day John Swinney will be an ex-SNP First Minister too. So far, it seems his legacy will be that he steadied the SNP ship. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar should feel he faces far more of a challenge in the 2026 election than he did a few months ago.

But most, if not all, political careers end in failure. Despite his great achievements, even Sir Winston Churchill ultimately considered his career a failure because he could not maintain “the enduring greatness of Britain and her Empire”.

There is arguably only one real measure of success for an SNP First Minister – achieving independence. But failure to do that should not be all that defines the careers of Salmond, Sturgeon, Yousaf and Swinney. They and their supporters should heed this advice from Churchill: “Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.”