Nicola Sturgeon flowers: Is First Minister Humza Yousaf too close to the former SNP leader?

Critics have labelled the new First Minister ‘weak’

The news that SNP MSPs had agreed to send flowers to Nicola Sturgeon "as a mark of sympathy" following her arrest at the weekend raised a few eyebrows in Holyrood.

Ms Sturgeon was released without charge after more than seven hours of questioning on Sunday as part of the police investigation into the SNP’s finances. In a bullish statement, she stressed she was innocent of any wrongdoing.

The former first minister is the third senior party figure to be arrested and released without charge, after her husband Peter Murrell, the SNP’s former chief executive, and former party treasurer Colin Beattie. Neither are thought to have received flowers in sympathy. Perhaps an Amazon voucher might suffice?

Humza Yousaf and Nicola Sturgeon

The police probe has dominated Humza Yousaf’s first couple of months in office. The new First Minister has been on the back foot from the very beginning. Instead of pushing forward with his own agenda, he has been left fielding a barrage of questions about the regime of his predecessor.

Mr Yousaf was billed as the continuity candidate during the six-week SNP leadership election. He heaped praise on Ms Sturgeon and suggested she could be a “global ambassador” for Scottish independence.

Now he is under pressure to suspend the politician, who until very recently was seen as one of his party’s greatest assets. Opposition figures and even a handful of his own parliamentarians – albeit not those close to the party leadership – have called on him to take action.

Mr Yousaf says there is “no reason” to do so. "I'll not suspend Nicola's membership,” he told the BBC. “I'll treat her in the same way I've treated, for example, Colin Beattie. Those that have been released without charge I see no reason to suspend their membership."

The Tories have labelled him “weak”. Some point to the SNP’s past treatment of others within its ranks, such as the MSP Michelle Thomson, who lost the whip in 2015 following allegations relating to property deals.

Mr Yousaf can legitimately say his approach is consistent. He has treated Mr Murrell, Mr Beattie and Ms Sturgeon the same. How his predecessor handled similar cases is a matter for her.

But for his critics, Mr Yousaf’s refusal to take action – and the decision by his MSPs to send Ms Sturgeon flowers – leaves him inextricably linked to the party’s old guard. It remains to be seen whether that becomes a major problem.