Gordon’s Folly Compounds Wendy’s

Silly me for daring to presume anything competent could emerge from Downing Street these days. And, yes, it was reckless to suppose that the Prime Minister might acknowledge that the question of Labour support for a referendum should be decided by the Labour leadership in Scotland. That, of course, would be the sensible thing. But here’s how the BBC Brian Taylor describes the days developments:

So where’s your referendum now? At Prime Minister’s Questions, Gordon Brown offered an entirely different interpretation of the scenario offered by Wendy Alexander. According to Mr Brown, Ms Alexander had not demanded an immediate referendum on Scottish independence. “That”, he opined in response to David Cameron, “is not what she said.” Rather she intended to review matters after – and only after – the cross-party Calman Commission has produced its ideas for the revamp of devolved powers. So let me get this straight. When Ms Alexander deployed an unaccustomed demotic touch by declaring “bring it on”, she was actually saying that this was an issue which should await the outcome of an extensive and lengthy review.