'Under Fire' taught me to be more mindful of the real person behind the politician
Earlier this week I met up with Humza Yousaf to discuss his new book - and learned more about the real person behind the politician.
For a lot of people, it can be very difficult to see the person behind the politician.
They make it hard for us, because we tend to only ever see them in suits in parliament debating chambers, parroting jargon.
Yet they all have lives and families outside Holyrood or Westminster. We just very rarely ever get to see it.
Earlier this week I met up with former first minister Humza Yousaf to discuss his new book ‘Under Fire’. It documents the four weeks that his in-laws were trapped in Gaza while he was First Minister.
The family man that we often do not see very much came through in this book, but often not in the happiest of circumstances.
In his book he recounts several high-profile events where journalists were on hand to analyse everything he said and report on it. Yet behind the scenes, his family was being ripped apart by the atrocities happening in Gaza.
There is one event he recounts in his book that I recall well - his visit to Brechin after it was hit by severe flooding.
The reason it sticks in my head so much is because I was running late, I got stuck in what seemed like a never-ending traffic jam, and I really, really needed the toilet (who said the life of a journalist is not glamorous?).
Yet in ‘Under Fire’, we see that Mr Yousaf has a very different memory of that day in Brechin, and was dealing with far greater strife than traffic and finding a toilet.
While speaking to emergency workers, he missed a phone call from his mother-in-law Elizabeth.
He wrote: “I cursed myself for not checking earlier and told my private secretary that I needed a minute. Luckily, I got through to Elizabeth straight away.
“‘We’re down to six bottles of water and there’s around 100 of us in this house.’
“Elizabeth had not eaten that day and the previous day she had only had some cashew nuts. The only thing that had passed her lips today was a sip of water. She was keen that as much water as possible was reserved for the children, which included baby Ameer, who was only two months old.
“The press cameras caught me, standing alone, phone pressed to my ear, talking to Elizabeth. During broadcast interviews at the end of the visit, the press asked me about the call. I was frank about how desperate the circumstances were and how dire their living situation had become.”
It really tells a different side to that day that I spoke to the First Minister about flood resilience.
If there is anything I can take away from reading his book and interviewing him, is to perhaps remember there is a real person under the polished suit, with real life problems and real life worries. While this will often not be as severe as having family members being trapped in a warzone, it nevertheless could be tearing them apart in secret.
Politicians would do well to remind us they are real people more often - but perhaps we need to remember that more often as well.
You can watch my full interview with Mr Yousaf on The Scotsman’s YouTube channel or listen to The Steamie politics podcast.
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