Nicola Sturgeon is 'most impressive politician in Europe', claims Humza Yousaf, amid SNP civil war over suspension calls

The First Minister made the plea ahead of an SNP MSP group meeting.

Humza Yousaf has labelled Nicola Sturgeon as the best politician in Europe despite her arrest as he urged unity among warring MSPs in Holyrood.

In a comment that points towards the internal divisions within the SNP and the damage being caused by infighting, the First Minister demanded the party put forward a “unified voice”.

Following a gathering of SNP MSPs, the party also agreed during a group meeting to send flowers to the former first minister following her arrest.

The comments continue a week of turmoil for Scotland’s governing party following Ms Sturgeon’s arrest in connection with the ongoing investigation into party finances. The former first minister was released without charge, pending further investigation, and professed her innocence on social media.

However, Ms Sturgeon swerved attending the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday and will potentially return later in the week to the Holyrood chamber. Her absence allowed the ongoing row inside the SNP about the perceived special treatment of the former leader to fester further.

Mr Yousaf said he would not reconsider the decision not to suspend Ms Sturgeon from the party, a move that would have resulted in her sitting on the backbenches as an independent MSP, and rejected criticism the failure to do so made him “weak”.

He said: “The reason I am doing it is because I believe in natural justice. I believe in due process. She was released, of course, without charge.”

Asked if he believed the former first minister was an asset to the party despite the ongoing police probe, Mr Yousaf claimed his former boss was the “most impressive politician I think we have seen in Europe”.

He added: “She is an asset to our movement and to our party. It’s obviously a difficult time, it’s a very, very difficult time for her and a difficult time for our party and personally painful to many of us.”

The First Minister also confirmed he had not spoken with Ms Sturgeon since her arrest.

Mr Yousaf, who held a meeting with SNP MSPs in Holyrood on Tuesday, told journalists he “did not read the riot act” to those who disagreed, adding: “I was listening, I was engaged as any good leader would do. I had a really constructive conversation with the SNP group.”

Following that meeting it was revealed the MSP group had agreed to send flowers to the former first minister. It is not clear whether Colin Beattie, the former party treasurer, or Peter Murrell, the former party chief executive, also received flowers following their arrests.

This was later branded a “sycophantic gesture” by the Scottish Conservatives, who said it demonstrated how SNP figures remain “in thrall to their former boss”.

Despite the attempt to present a united party to the public, it was clear some divisions remain in the party about how Ms Sturgeon has been treated.

Michelle Thomson, one of the loudest voices calling for Ms Sturgeon to resign the whip to follow the precedent she set herself as leader, was chaperoned away from journalists by the former deputy first minister and ally of Ms Sturgeon, John Swinney.

However, she later told the Daily Record the deputy leader of the party, Keith Brown, had been “categorically untrue” when he said she had voluntarily resigned the whip in Westminster in 2015.

Ms Thomson, who was never personally investigated or arrested by police, resigned the whip in 2015 amid wider allegations of financial impropriety around property dealings.

She said: “I have heard some suggest that I voluntarily suspended the whip, although they qualify that statement to confirm they were not actually there.

"I was and I can confirm that this is categorically untrue. This is why I think it important for the former first minister to set out why she deserves natural justice (which she of course does) – but others didn’t when she was in charge.”

Mr Brown had claimed the “public record” showed Ms Thomson was the one to make the decision to withdraw from the whip.

Former SNP leadership contender Ash Regan, and MP Angus MacNeil, both of whom were critics of Ms Sturgeon, are also amongst those who have suggested the former first minister should be suspended.

Deputy leader Meghan Gallacher said: “Keith Brown’s desperate spinning in defence of Humza Yousaf will only pour petrol on the bitter civil war between SNP MSPs and MPs over Nicola Sturgeon’s preferential treatment.

“His claim that Michelle Thomson had voluntarily given up the SNP whip when she was under investigation amounts to gaslighting, as she has said very clearly she had the whip removed from her by Nicola Sturgeon.”

She added: “No amount of spin can disguise the fact that Humza Yousaf is so compromised by his closeness to Nicola Sturgeon that he is having to move the goalposts on internal discipline.”

Alex Salmond, who resigned his membership of the SNP when allegations of sexual offences came to light before setting up Alba after being acquitted after a criminal trial and suing his former government, told the Holyrood Sources podcast he believed Ms Sturgeon would have suspended herself if she was still leader.

The former first minister, whose relationship with Ms Sturgeon irreparably collapsed after the allegations of harassment against him were raised, said: “I'm suggesting that Nicola Sturgeon would have suspended Nicola Sturgeon under these circumstances, no question about that. But look, what Humza decides to do with the internal discipline of another political party and not the one I lead is a matter for Humza.”

Mr Salmond said he believed the SNP was facing an “extinction event” and suggested the party must “shift the narrative” to survive.

“The narrative now is the SNP find it difficult to run a tap in the Scottish Parliament, is that embarked on confrontational issues with the Scottish population, which are causing significant damage to these groups in society, but more so to the SNP's reputation, there is a real underlying feeling that key public services are not being run as they should be run,” he said.