Humza Yousaf

Who is Humza Yousaf?

Humza Yousaf is a Scottish politician who has served as the Scottish National Party Member of the Scottish Parliament for Glasgow since 2011. He was elected via the Mixed Member Proportional Representation from the Party List. Since September 2012 he has been Minister for External Affairs and International Development, the junior minister under the Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs.

He is the son of immigrants who came to Britain in the 1960s, his mother from Kenya, his father from Pakistan. He married Gail Lythgoe in 2010.

After completing his degree in Politics at the University of Glasgow, he worked at the Scottish Parliament with the late Bashir Ahmad, an SNP politician, who was a personal influence. Since then he has worked for a number of MSPs including Anne McLaughlin, Nicola Sturgeon and the First Minister, Alex Salmond.

Humza Yousaf has been involved in community work, from youth organisations to charity fundraising, for most of his life. He was Media Spokesperson for the charity Islamic Relief, he worked for community radio for 12 years and on a project which provided food packages to homeless and asylum seekers in Glasgow. He was awarded the “Future Force of Politics Award 2010”, which was presented to him in Glasgow City Chambers. He is also a former alumnus of the US State Department IVLP programme.