Humza Yousaf has resigned as Scotland’s first minister and SNP leader after barely a year in the job.
He announced he was quitting just days before he was due to face a vote of no confidence in the Scottish Parliament.
At a hastily-arranged press conference at his official residence of Bute House in Edinburgh, an emotional Yousaf said he had “informed the SNP’s national secretary of my intention to stand down as party leader”.
Yousaf’s leadership has been in crisis since his decision last week to dump the Green Party from the Scottish government.
That triggered the confidence vote - and the Greens got their revenge by announcing they would vote against the first minister.
Yousaf was left having to rely on the support of Ash Regan, his former SNP leadership rival who is now a member of Alex Salmond’s Alba Party, in order to survive.
As recently as Friday, Yousaf - who succeeded Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader in March last year - was insisting he would fight on.
He said: “I intend absolutely to fight that vote of no confidence and I’m getting on with the day job.”
But after rejecting Salmond’s attempts to strike a deal over the weekend, Yousaf said he had come to the conclusion that he had no option but to quit.
He said: “While a route through this week’s vote of no confidence was absolutely possible, I am not willing to trade my values and principles, or do a deal with whoever, simply for retaining power.
“Therefore, after spending the weekend reflecting on what is best for the party, for the government and for the country I lead, I have concluded that repairing our relationship across the political divide will only be done with someone else at the helm.”
Yousaf, who said he will stay in post until his successor is chosen, said it had been “an honour” to be first minister.
Referring to the fact that he was the first person from an ethnic minority to lead Scotland, he said: “People who looked like me were not in positions of political influence, let alone leading governments when I was younger.
“We now live in a UK that has a British Hindu prime minister, a Muslim mayor of London, a black Welsh first minister and for a little while longer, a Scots Asian first minister of this country.
“So for those who decry multi-culturalism has failed across the UK, I would suggest that the evidence is quite to the contrary and that is something we should all celebrate.”
Yousaf’s departure fires the starting gun on another SNP leadership contest, with former leader John Swinney emerging as a dark horse in the contest.
One source told HuffPost UK: “If Swinney stands - I’d guess for an interim period - it’ll be him [who becomes leader]. It would take a lot of convincing but he’s a party loyalist to his bones.”
Other potential candidates include Kate Forbes, who narrowly lost out to Yousaf last year and SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn.
Reacting to Yousaf’s resignation, a spokesperson for Rishi Sunak said: “When the first minister first came to office he and the prime minister talked about wanting to work together and to focus on the real issues that matter to people.
“The UK government will work with the new administration to the same end - which is working together to deliver for people of Scotland whether it’s growing the economy, delivering jobs, enhancing energy security.
“For most people, they don’t want to be distracted by the ins and outs of politics. They want to see their government working together to deliver on their priorities.”