What do SNP ministers do to get themselves out of a sticky situation? Rewrite the rules, of course

Just when you thought the farce over the non-existent legal advice on Scotland's EU membership was over, yesterday's Herald has news of yet another twist.

Remember how keen Alex Salmond was to refer himself on the Ministerial Code? Apart from that being a big red herring anyway, it turns out the Government re-wrote it to suit Alex Salmond's case while the investigation  on Catherine Stihler's FOI request was going on.

If, as the Scottish Government spokesperson says, there was no difference in the meaning of the wording, why did they go to the bother of changing it?

Salmond wants to be able to say "Look, I didn't breach the Ministerial Code so those nasty unionists are trying to smear me. Aren't they horrible?"

Actually, relying on the Ministerial Code in this instance is a bit like trying to rely on the Highway Code to exonerat e you for  a misdemeanour you committed during a boxing match. What we know is that Salmond and the SNP bent over backwards over several months to create the impression that they had the legal advice we'd all expect them to have on the subject of an independent Scotland's EU membership. And then they had to confess, after they'd spent a small fortune of hard earned taxpayer's money taking the Information Commissioner to Court to cover it up, that they had no such advice after all.

The word that best describes such behaviour is, I think, sleekit.

Willie Rennie said:

Alex Salmond's emergency changes to his own Ministerial Code reveal the level of manipulation that enveloped his office following the receipt of the EU legal advice inquiry.

So, David Cameron does know Sir Alex Allan's phone number then

One of the non jubilee items of the last few days has been the news that Sayeeda Warsi has been referred by David Cameron to the Independent Adviser on the Ministerial Code, Sir Alex Allan. She took her brother in law, with whom she has business interests, on a government trip to Pakistan. Despite her apology, it's absolutely right that this should be investigated.

So now we know that Cameron's failure to refer Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt to Allan is not just because he's lost his phone number. The Prime Minister was very quick to turn Sayeeda Warsi over, so why will he not do the same for Hunt, whose clear bias in favour of the News Corp bid for BSkyB, as shown in a series of contacts with the Murdochs and others, casts doubt on his adherence to the Code.

For Cameron to be the sole arbiter on this does not seem to me to be right. He's hardly an unbiased bystander. In fact, he has a clear interest in Hunt remaining in office, because the next stop after Hunt is Cameron himself.

I might be doing the man a disservice, but being seen to do the right thing is really important. Particularly when the foreword to the Ministerial Code says:

In everything we do – the policies we develop and how we implement them, the speeches we give, the meetings we hold – we must remember that we are not masters but servants. Though the British people have been disappointed in their politicians, they still expect the highest standards of conduct. We must not let themdown.

We must be different in how we think and how we behave. We must be different from what has gone before us. Careful with public money. Transparent about what we do and how we do it. Determined to act in the national interest, above improper influence. Mindful of our duty. Above all, grateful for our chance to change our country.

And who wrote that? One David Cameron.

It makes you wonder whether cases where impropriety is suspected should automatically be referred to the Independent Adviser. There would have to be some evidence, or there would be something on the internet every day that would merit investigation. It certainly should not be the call of the Prime Minister.You can't leave it up to the Opposition either or you could end up with a farcical, politically motivated situation like you had with Clinton in the 1990s but the current situation is not satisfactory at all.

I'm glad that our lot have not been anywhere near defending Hunt. In fact some of them have been actively calling for an investigation. It's the right and proper thing to do and the longer this lingers, the worse it's going to get.