SNP on the back foot after the Rutherglen & Hamilton West by-election - and facing defections.

 The SNP is on the back foot after the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election and now has suffered its first defection by an SNP Westminster MP.

Above: How the Scottish First Minister likes to present himself, a recent issue of the American publication 'Time magazine'. Humza Yousaf displays himself as a statesman and postures to a US readership as "a trailblazer shaping the future".

Obviously 'Time magazine' did not spend too much time looking at his dismal record as an SNP minister over recent years, why else do his opponents call him "Useless Yousaf"?

In a few days time SNP leader Humza Yousaf is due to strut his stuff before the SNP Annual Conference in Aberdeen and the situation he is to present to the SNP faithful  is not exactly rosy.

The SNP were hammered by Scottish Labour in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election, losing the seat by more than a 20% swing to Labour. So bad was this political rout for the SNP that one SNP insider stated that the party had been "skelped", and admitted that members were quitting the SNP because they disagreed with much of its 'radical social agenda' on matters such as gender and education.

The SNP share of the vote in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by election went into free-fall, but the Labour Party victory was not as great as the Labour publicity machine presents - the number of voters who did not take part was significant.

Add to that the very surprising news that one of the SNP's Westminster MP's has quit the party and of all choices she has joined the Conservative Party.

Lisa Cameron, who until this week was the SNP Member of Parliament for the seat of East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow, left the SNP to join the Conservatives because she had suffered months at the hands of what she called, "the toxic and bullying culture" of the SNP group at Westminster, because she spoke out against the party line on the behaviour and SNP party line on SNP MP Patrick Grady.

So much for internal solidarity in the SNP.

It will be interesting to hear how SNP leader Humza Yousaf explains all that and more to the audience at Aberdeen.

Pictured above: Humza Yousaf as he likes to think of himself, and desperately wants the Scottish electorate to think of him as a serious, professional politician.

IF ONLY THE REALITY MATCHED THE GLOSSY PRESENTATION.

And What About Israel  and the Conflict in the Gaza Strip?

It seems the Scotland's First Minister Humza Yousaf has a card in that game too.

It seems that the Scottish First Minister has family members caught up in the siege of the Gaza Strip, and the pending bombing offensive and ground attack by Israeli forces. Humza Yousaf has been quick to tell the media about his wife's family members, her mother and brother, who are trapped in the Palestinian enclave. His brother in law. Mohammed, is doctor working at a hospital in Gaza, and his wife's parents made the trip out to Gaza to visit him and other family members last week. That has to be a serious error of timing.

As a Muslim, Humza Yousaf is deeply concerned for the people of Gaza facing the onslaught by the military might of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), and he has stated that, "The world can't sit back and witness the obliteration of 2.2 million people."

A fair comment, the mass destruction of Gaza and its population is a pending humanitarian disaster, but the Scottish First Minister needs to think about his statements because the bulk of the British political mainstream, especially the government are standing in solidarity with Israel and any expressions of sympathy or support for the Palestinians will be held under great suspicion.

BM Scotland wonders if the SNP conference in Aberdeen will display the Israeli flag in solidarity?