Scottish Government minister Humza Yousaf is furious with the media for sharing a video of him falling off a scooter and almost landing on his face while racing through the Scottish Parliament building.
Yousaf, the left-separatist Scottish National Party (SNP) government’s controversial Health Secretary, infamous for a speech railing against the number of white people in top jobs in Scotland and for pioneering the country’s anti-free speech Hate Crime and Public Order Act, recently injured his foot playing badminton.
Footage captured by STV News assistant producer Alison McCallum and uploaded to Twitter by BBC Scotland political editor Glenn Campbell shows the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) hurtling along a hallway on a scooter, which he is using as a mobility aid, at speed, with an aide running alongside him with his crutches — until suddenly he loses control of the front wheel, pitching him onto the floor.
The video occasioned some laughs and more than a little schadenfreude from Yousaf’s detractors — but the politician could not see the funny side, complaining that footage of his pratfall should never have been shared.
“All for media scrutiny & never shy away from it. Just not sure there is need or purpose to tweet out a video of me falling over while injured,” he seethed.
“If anyone else had fallen over while on crutches, a knee scooter, or in a wheelchair would your first instinct be to film it & tweet out?” he demanded — as if the British media would not take great delight in sharing footage of a right-leaning politican such as Boris Johnson or Nigel Farage falling off a scooter.
The 36-year-old politician’s colleagues struck a similar tone, with the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy saying the offending tweet was “very uncomfortable”.
“I can’t see how a video of an injured man falling, presumably in some pain, is in the public interest,” she complained.
“I’m really not convinced sharing someone using a mobility aid and tripping up is really what we should expect from the BBC,” concurred SNP strategist Ross Colquhoun.
Others were unimpressed with Yousaf’s efforts to suggest his embarrassment should have been covered for noble ends, however, with publican Adam Brooks highlighting the fact that the SNP MSP did himself gloat about footage of Conservative politican Douglas Ross “decking it” (falling over) while officiating a football match, and saying he couldn’t “wait to see the meme”.