Humza Yousaf (born 7 April 1985) is a Scottish politician who is the Minister for Europe and International Development and a Scottish National Party Member of the Scottish Parliament for Glasgow. He was elected to the Scottish Parliament in 2011 and became a junior minister in 2012.
Yousaf is the son of immigrants who came to Britain in the 1960s: his mother came from Kenya and his father from Pakistan.
Yousaf was educated at Hutchesons' Grammar School, an independent school in Glasgow, followed by the University of Glasgow, where he took a degree in Politics.
Yousaf 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.
Yousaf has been involved in community work, ranging from youth organisations to charity fundraising, for most of his life. He was the volunteer media spokesperson for the charity Islamic Relief, worked for community radio for 12 years and on a project which provided food packages to the 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. In 2008 he attended the IVLP programme which is run by the US State Department.
In 2011, he was elected to the Scottish Parliament as a regional member for Glasgow. Yousaf was appointed to the Justice and Public Audit Committees and to the post of Parliamentary Liaison Officer to Alex Salmond. He appeared in a Question Time debate on BBC Scotland in February 2013, in which he was criticised for calling David Dimbleby 'patronising' in his chairing of the debate.
On 9 September 2014, Yousaf, as a spokesman for the Pro-Scottish Independence "Yes" campaign, appeared on the BBC News channel and remarked that Elizabeth II would "be welcome if she ever comes to Scotland".
On 5 September 2012, Yousaf became the Minister for External Affairs and International Development after Alex Salmond had undertaken his first major cabinet reshuffle of the parliamentary session. This junior ministerial appointment saw him working under the Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs. He is the first Muslim Minister to be appointed to the Scottish Government. Nicola Sturgeon became First Minister in November 2014, keeping Yousaf as a junior minister, although the name of the position he held was changed to the Minister for Europe and International Development.
Yousaf married Gail Lythgoe in 2010.
Source: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia