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announcer: and now, "bbc news" christian: hello. this is the context. >> i am not willing to treat my values and principles simply for retaining power. >> scotland and his scottish parliament will decide who the first minister is. what is happening now with the smp is the mask is slipping. people in scotland are realizing services our work. here since 2007 and the baggage and arguments of all of those years contributed to what we have seen today. but the future matters more than the past. ♪ christian: one year and one

month since he took over, scotland is looking for a new first minister. we will have the full story, and what it might mean for labors chances at the next journal election. also, israel appears to have softened its stance with cease fire talks with hamas. u.s. secretary of state antony blinken was in saudi arabia today to discuss gaza. we get the thoughts of two u.s. diplomats who serve in the region. a very good evening. scotland's beleaguered first minister is stepping down after became clear to him he had run out of road. he walked away from a coalition agreement with the scottish greens having only recently ditched their agreed targets on climate change but soon after the greens agreed to elan with the scottish conservatives in a vote of no-confidence.

they promised a vote of no-confidence in the entire scottish government. in an extraordinary twist of fate it meant the first minister would have needed the vote of his nemesis, who defected last year. a politician he once described as new great loss to his party. james: a simple answer, yes. not at home, but here at the official residence of the first minister in edinburgh, a place which gave its name to the power shading deal which humza yousaf dumped disastrously last year. >> ending the agreement and the manner i did -- the level of hurt and upset that cost. i have concluded repairing our relationship across the political divide can only be

done someone else at the home. i have therefore inform the smp's national secretary of my intention to stand down as party leader and ask she holds a leadership contest for my replacement as soon as possible. as a young boy born and raised in scotland, i could never have dreamed that one day i would have the privilege of leading my country. people who looked li me were not in positions of political influence, let alone leading governments when i was younger. politics can be a brutal business. it takes a toll on your physical and mental health. your family suffer alongside you. i owe an absolute debt to my wonderful wife, my beautiful children, and my family for putting up with me over the years. i am afraid you will be seeing a lot more of me from now on. >> humza yousaf, glasgow.

james: he will have a place in the history books as the first muslim, the first descendant of immigrants, and the first scott-asian to lead scotland's government. but his time in office was tough, most of all when his is -- his in-laws were trapped in gaza gaza for a month. he also encountered policy problems, all with his party under the shadow of a police investigation. the trauma here today is not just about who occupies this house. it is about what they want to do while they are inside. this affair has highlighted divisions in the smp. divisions on how to achieve independence. divisions on economic policy. and divisions on social issues, not least the most contentious topic of gender. so who will inherit those challenges? >> are you the next smp leader? >> obviously there is a lot to happen today. james: could it be john, who led

the party two decades ago and had pretty much retired? >> i am giving very careful consideration to be the leader of the smp. i have been somewhat overwhelmed by the requests that have been made of me to do that. with many messages from many colleagues across the parties. so i am giving that issue very active consideration. i will have more to say about that in the days to come. james: but what about kate forbes, the former finance secretary who ran mr. yousaf so close in the contest a little over a year ago? she is said to be thinking about running for the job. but the greens, whose support she might need, are not fans of her agenda. >> it is entirely up to the smp to decide who they want to leave their party. it is for them to decide what kind of party they want to be. do they want to continue to be a progressive party? do they continue to want to make income tax fair?

do they continue to wa to work for the climate and danger emergencies? or do they want to make a different direction? james: as he found out, governing his heart. but -- is hard. but governing without a majority is much harder. christian: with us to discuss, brian taylor, columnist for the harold, and where would we be on a night like this without sir john curtis. welcome to you both. brian, we should focus on what comes next. how will a new first minister be elected and how quickly? brian: the smp's national executive will meet this week to set up the national timetable and the rules. they're going to want to get on with it because first of all they want to fill the vacancy that will be created when eventually humza yousaf stands down. that will happen when he tendered his resignation formally to the king. they will also want to get on with it quickly because they

need to get off this agenda. this has been a dreadful year for the party. politics. lost the initiative in they have lost the initiative when it comes to the general u.k. election. and perhaps most serious of all, they have lost any initiative with regard to the purit of independence. there was a splendid word that means a noisy, confused mess. christian: am o -- how will people look back at the decision humza yousaf took last week, to unceremoniously dump the greens? was it politically naive? john: it was a blunder. trust me, he knows it. he believed the deal with the greens unraveling in any case. there was a fair degree of disquiet about that deal.

he did not have to do it the way he did it. he could have gone to the greens and said things are not quite working the way it is. i inherited this from a predecessor, i want to reshape it, perhaps a looser arrangement, not quite so formal. may some different approach. in the greens might or might not have been open to that, but at least it would have given him the opportunity of doing so. instead he called them in 8:30 a.m., dumped them, and expel them from the government. you can guess why they are a little upset at that. so when it came to the bit, he saw that to govern he needed friends, and that meant the greens, in the greens said no chance. you betrayed us, you let us down, and therefore you are not doing the deal. as you mentioned at the top, that left him with an even more unpalatable prospect of doing a deal with the other part.

he could not rebuild the deal with the greens. he didn't want to do a deal with ash regan, and that was the smp could not and would not, and therefore stood down. christian: it is not a neutral thing to change leader. the smp are basically neck-and-neck with labour in the polls. but we havseen in england every time the conservatives have changed. john: indeed. and it is potentially a very difficult position to find yourself in. but what has happened is they have taken away a leader who is becoming increasingly unpopular. he was not that great because he only verily won -- only barely won the contest. and was not uniting his party.

to that extent now we start a new game. the question now is what happens in the wake of the smp leadership contest. will there be a contest? if there is a contest, will it be as divisive as the last one or not? at the moment there is a current amount of momentum for john swinney, who did the job nearly 20 years ago. has to be set, not an entirely comfortable experience for him at that time. but at least he could fill one of the criteria of the smp are looking for which is someone who can unite the party. john swinney is widely liked. he is perhaps someone who can unite them. on the other hand there is a second quality they need, and that is someone who can project effectively to the wider public and try to get piety back on the front foot.

mr. swinney is a brilliant defensive batsperson, but not necessarily a stryker. i think the worry is he may study -- steady the ship but whether he will do enough to restore the smp so they can defend a number of westminster seats that are currently under threat in this coming autumn, that will be the question mark surrounding him. christian: crucially important scotnd, but what about westminster? what does it mean for labors chances later this year? john: the labour party seem to have a good chance of getting 24 seats or so north of the border. that would make it easier to get an overall majority. but given how far labour is ahead in the polls across the u.k. as a whole they still have a 20 point lead.

they perhaps don't need a recovery in scotland. it is primily much more do -- in the last 12 months they have profited from the fact that some people who still support independence. some of the current supports of independence are no longer willing to vote the smp and some have switched to labour. and that will be a battle to that election. in the challenge is to win them back. christian: sir john just set out a case for the dash to safety. there are others in the race. angus, kate, neil, jenny. what are you hearing from your sources about who would throw their hat in the ring? brian: most of the ones you have named her indicating firmly they

would welcome a leadership by john swinney. he says he has been hugely impressed and touched by the extent of support coming his way. i think it ilooking likely he emerges as perhaps the sole contender. kate forbes would have a tougher job against johnwinney, former deputy first minister, former finance secretary who ran a pretty tight ship when it came to the money. therefore well regarded within the party and also someone who can cut a deal with the greens, which kate forbes demonstrably could not. they dislike her socially conservative views on gender and same-sex marriage. they would not cut a deal with her and that would be weighing in the minds of smp's who think

wait a second, humza yousaf collapsed because he pulled away the deal with the greens. christian: just one thing occurs to me just to finish. clearly what will govern the decision over the next leader is which direction the party goes in. obviously over the last year or so they have been pulled to the liberal wing of the party on social issues. if they were to go the other way towards the center, then kate forbes comes into the reckoning. but surely they has to be a conversation within the party as to what it is going to look like as a menorah to government. if you are in the minority, you have to make compromises. brian: if you had the luxury of the time to have that lengthy conversation, they don't. they have to get on with this. they have to get the party back on the front foot. went humza yousaf pulled the rug from the greens thsday, he thought he was getting himself

an agenda that was more about the economy and less about issues like genda. instead he shot himself in his own foot. it has been a really damaging escapade. john swinney will not take the party to the right, but he might drift it more into t center ground. an element of the party that is crucial in this are the mp's. they are definitely facing a pending election pretty soon. they wanted more than smp agenda, less discourse with the greens, more of a front foot approach. and i think thewould welcome the party moving to the center, pushing forward on economic growth rather than economic wealth reader should be in. pushing forward on the agenda the smp itself sets rather than in tandem with the greens. i think they would welcome john swinney. they would have more aversion to kate forbes but right now it looks like the party will go for john swinney.

christian: john, do you agree with that? john: one of the crucial lessons of the last five days is given the current disposition of all of the prounion parties, the only game in town for the smp to run is to have an accommodation with the greens. for good or ill, the greens are the only available partner. christian: really interesting. gentlemen, thank you for your time. john curtice and brian taylor, thank you as always. around the world and across the u.k., this is bbc news. let's have a quick look at other stories making headlines. a man admitted killed an elderly man in a mobility scooter in a knife attack. he pleaded guilty to the manslaughter in august 2022. he had only been released from prison five days before the stabbing. three more lenders announced

they are raising rates on new fixed deal mortgages from tomorrow. nationwide, they follow several other lenders who lifted rates last week. it comes as expectations of the bank of england cutting interest rates are scaled-back. the average rate of a two-year fixed deal is now just over 5.8%. the u.k. government will not take back asylum-seekers who have crossed into ireland until eu-wide asylum rules are changed. last week the irish government announced emergency laws to return a rising number of asylum-seekers crossing from northern ireland. the official spokesperson said it was up to the u.k. to decide who we do and do not accept into the country. your life with bbc news. there are renewed hopes in the cease fire between israel and hamas after weeks of stalemate. it's unclear how many israeli hostages would be released under the proposal. the israeli media puts it at 33

in release -- the white house and u.s. president biden have been speaking with the leaders of qatar and egypt, who have been the mediators. u.s. secretary of state antony blinken, who is in saudi arabia, said he is hopeful hamas will accept what he described as a very generous proposal. >> hamas has before it a proposal that is extraordinarily generous. on the part of israel. and in this moment the only thing standing between the people of gaza and a cease fire is hamas. they have to decide. and they have to decide quickly. christian: the white house said tonight that president biden will be speaking not only to t mef of qatar by the president of egypt. we are speaking with glenn johnson in boston and robert jordan, who served as ambassador

to saudi arabia and the bush administration in dallas, texas. i know that you know bill burns, the head of the cia and he is deeply involved in these negotiations. is he the kind of man that could get across the line? >> he is very diplomatic. i worked with him when he was secretary of state for the middle east. he of course served later as deputy secretary of state and now a very important position which is as much diplomacy as it is intelligence. so he is the perfect man to be leading our side of the negotiations. christian: why would the israelis put forward a much more generous deal now when, let's face it, they have put the war aims slightly before the hostages in previous rounds of negotiating? >> i think they are trying to find a way out of the stalemate

they are in. there has not been any movement on a cease fire negotiation. the public is seeking the return of hostages. the biden administration has worked very diligently to try and get them to create and finish a cease fire deal. now it is just trying to put something on the table that will actually get a yes from hamas. christian: there are a lot of things still to be finalized. the number of prisoners released, the palestinian prisoners released, and what controls they will be over gaza during the six week period, notably, whether people can return to what is left in the north. glen: it is such a difficult situation. i don't have anything but good hopes for tony blinken and bill burns. it is just a difficult problem

set all the way around. whether it is trying to get a cease fire, trying to get people returned, trying to figure out which prisoners to be released, where there -- whether they can stave off an israeli attack into rafa, things about reconstruction, normalization with saudi arabia. there's an array of inner mashed things here they are trying to navigate. christian: there was a colleague written this week by a former eurasian bureau chief who said jerusalem now has to choose between goininto rafa, or choosing a security arrangement with riyadh, which was very much up for discussion today. what is the future for gaza and a future palestinian state? do you think it is as black-and-white as that? is it now a binary choice?

robert: tom freeman is a great writer but it is far more complex than that. there are so many details here. in some ways they are intertwined. the interesting saudi's have you normalization is very important. also the fact that in response to the iranian air attacks, they marshaled the resources of the saudis, egyptians at others. they have an interest in security of israel we have not seen before. certainly in my time we would have never have seen this. so there is progress being made and it is not exactly a minor choice. but the israelis i think are coming to realize tt there is no way to declare absolute theory here.

and once that cold reality sinks in i think there is going to be a coming to terms with what can be done rather than what they would like to have done. christian: can i explore that a little more? obviously public opinion in saudi arabia it would be opposed to normalizing relations. but we understand saudi arabia would receive advanced weapons and security guarantees. can you explain to us why in the current context they might like the idea of that? are we thinking in terms of iran here, is that the bigger focus for saudi arabia? robert: absolutely. and that is one reason hamas undertook the attacks of october 7. the motivation to normalize relationships has a lot to do with iran. also, it's important to recognize the domestic pressure on a number of the parties. hamas may be losing some of its luster for tho palestinians

who have had their lives completely destroyed. secondly, we are seeing in israel, a recognition by the war cabinet that the hostage issue is much more important than attacking rafah. so, some of the old lines are being blurred right now and i think that is a positive. christian: just hearing in the last few seconds that president biden has spoken with president el-sisi tonight. they talked about the two-state to the broader solution in theis region as we discussed. obviously the egyptians have a keen focus on the a's as well, which -- the aid as well, which has improved but is nowhere near what is required. i wonder what you make of the suggestion in the new york times that the israelis are bracing for possible charges at the icc at the hague for what has happened. glen: it was a situation we face when i was with secretary kerry and he spent 13 months shuttling

throughout the region. the ambassador knows too well how to try and reach a solution. the israelis under prime minister netanyahu w would constantly push back on it two-state agreement but also seek the cloak of protection from the u.s. against any actions of the icc, the hague, etc. it was a duplicity, and you are seeing that again now. they are doing the bare minimum to stave off cricism from the biden administration, but then they are asking for the protections of our country when it comes to any sort of international criminal court indictments or any prosecution for their leadership. christian: glen johnson, thank you very much for your time. thank you also to ambassador robert jordan for your thoughts this evening. a quickly developing situation of course in the middle east that we will continue to keep our eye on. on the other side of the break we are going to talk about

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