But his record as a minister was mixed and the criticism he often faced would be used against him when he became first minister.
He was attacked over the performance of ScotRail after operators Abellio took over the contract to run the franchise, a move which ultimately led to it being nationalised.
After his promotion to the cabinet in 2018 as Ms Sturgeon’s new justice secretary, his flagship hate crime bill was mired in controversy over fears that the new offence of “stirring up hatred” could have a major impact on freedom of speech.
Mr Yousaf was also criticised for tweeting about his “disgust” over a video supposedly showing Rangers players using sectarian language that quickly turned out to be fake.
And he dismissed concerns about the state of Scotland’s police buildings as “hyperbole” just hours before the ceiling collapsed at Broughty Ferry police station near Dundee. Mr Yousaf had recently moved to the town.
Within three weeks of becoming health secretary in May 2021, Mr Yousaf had to apologise for any “undue alarm” he had caused by wrongly claiming that 10 children had been hospitalised “because of Covid”.
But his supporters pointed to achievements across his time in government, including delivering the Queensferry Crossing on time and under budget and falling crime figures.
One video from that period came to haunt him. He was caught on camera falling off a knee scooter that he was using to speedily navigate the corridors of Holyrood while recovering from rupturing his Achilles tendon playing badminton.
When video of his tumble was tweeted by Scotland political editor Glenn Campbell, Mr Yousaf replied: “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?”
