How to shut down criticism of Scottish independence in four easy steps

Step One: Businessman criticises independence. In this case, Les Montgomery, chief executive of the Highland Spring mineral water brand. On Sunday, he told PA: ‘Businesses are fed up. The Scottish Government should be getting on with the job they are there to do. Focusing on employment, investment, those kinds of things. Independence isn’t the job that the Scottish Government is supposed to be doing.’

Step Two: Scottish Government calls businessman. After being told of Montgomery’s remarks, SNP economy minister Keith Brown instructed officials to contact Highland Spring to see if they would like to ‘discuss them further’. Highland Spring confirmed that it was approached by the Scottish Government but wouldn’t say if discussions involved ministers or just civil servants.

Step Three: Businessman withdraws criticism of independence.  On Tuesday, Highland Spring issued an Orwellian apology in which it claimed Montgomery, who explicitly talked about independence in his original interview, ‘did not mention indyref2’. And he hadn’t, in much the same way that you might denounce Theresa May’s ‘plan for EU withdrawal’ then point out you never actually used the word ‘Brexit’.