BROKEN POLITICS

Reaction to Yousaf's misjudgment and lack of guile shows a country that is deeply polarised

- PAUL HUTCHEON

HUMZA Yousaf was a broken man when he walked out of his resignation press conference crying, taking no questions from the media.

But his brutal demise as First Minister reflected his failure to grasp how broken Scottish politics had become.

Quitting after 13 unlucky months was directly related to the way he kicked the Scottish Green Party out of government.

Yousaf and his advisers war-gamed the outcomes and concluded he would be safe from an attempt to topple him. Team Humza believed the Trumpian Tories and anti-capitalist Greens would not unite to topple a minority government.

Yousaf was wrong and he has paid the price with his job.

Ditching pro-independence partners had to be handled with cunning and guile.

This meant diplomacy, multiple meetings, expressions of empathy and a gradual decoupling.

He instead hauled in Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater for a savage Bute House sacking and made them walk the plank in front of the waiting cameras outside. They felt humiliated, trust was shattered and vengeance the order of the day.