NEW SNP MSP Humza Yousaf says he wouldn't be in the Scottish Parliament if it wasn't for his love of chocolate.
Yousaf, 26, says it was the prospect of a Toblerone from his dad Muzaffar Yousaf – the first non-white member of the SNP – that first got him going out on his bike delivering leaflets for the party.
The Glasgow MSP, who wore a traditional Pakistani sherwani for the swearing-in of the newly elected members, and took his parliamentary oath in Urdu, describes himself as a "secular Muslim" and an "ardent Celtic fan".
He also talks about being threatened with suspension from school for leading a demonstration in George Square against the 2003 invasion of Iraq, only to be saved by his dad who told his son's teachers that they should have been proud of the city-centre protest.
But what marks the young nationalist out as a bright prospect in the next parliament, and likely to go places fast is that he is clearly one of Alex Salmond's favoured sons among the new SNP intake.
Alex Salmond does seem partial to those Muslims doesn't he? Humza Yousaf's cousin Osama Saeed was reported to be another of his "favourite sons".
Yousaf, who is a Glasgow University politics graduate, talks fondly about the time he spent working in Salmond's constituency office in Peterhead, and jokes that he was the "only Asian in the village".
Having worked for the first Muslim MSP, the late Bashir Ahmad, in the last parliament, Yousaf boasts an intriguing CV, which includes stints working in a Scottish Power call centre and in a "dusty" cash and carry warehouse as a teenager.
"Before the politics work, during the school summer holidays, I can remember being put on a work placement at a cash and carry warehouse in Glasgow, which was really dusty.
"I also worked in a Scottish Power call centre, which was so demoralising that I left after two weeks because there was so much of a culture of giving the hard sell to customers over the phone."
Yousaf describes his faith as "important to him", but says his horizons have been broadened by the conversion to Islam of his wife Gail Lythgoe – a fellow SNP activist.
He says: "Faith is quite important to me. My wife Gail Lythgoe is a white Muslim convert and this is obviously something that has broadened my horizon. I would describe myself as a secular Muslim who wants secular laws.
"I have interests outside politics, though, and I go to watch Celtic as much as I can. Also I used to play for an inter faith football team against the parliament team."
A secular Muslim whose faith is important to him? Sure. Gail Lythgoe, or rather Gail Yousaf as her name now presumably is, may want to examine the fate of some other white European girls who formed relationships with Mohammedans. There's an interesting story in the German newspaper BILD today about a German woman who married a Muslim and had a daughter with him. When the relationship broke down, the Muslim tried to sell the 11-year-old daughter to a 70-year-old Saudi.
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