Steel’s sharp rebuke dulled by delay

hen the referee walks off the pitch it’s a fair sign that the behaviour of the players leaves much to be desired. Yesterday, Lord Steel, the former Holyrood Presiding Officer, announced that he had resigned from a Scottish Government advisory panel on the ministerial code because he was “appalled” by the language used in recent attacks led by First Minister Alex Salmond on the UK Supreme Court.

His warning that the new SNP government faces a “growing number” of official complaints against ministers unless they tone down their language is a sharp reprimand. It is one that would have carried more force had Lord Steel made public his resignation when he sent it in weeks ago, rather than agreeing with Mr Salmond not to reveal the fact and reasons for his resignations until new appointments had been made.

This attention to protocols has rather muffled the effect such a resignation would have had, were it to have been made public at the time. Such is the fast-moving nature of modern politics that both the First Minister and justice minister Kenny MacAskill (who had made veiled threats to withdraw funding from the Supreme Court) are now able to repeat the mantra that “a line has been drawn” and that “it’s time to move on”.

Arguably as worrying is Lord Steel’s decision to quit this advisory panel, rather than pursue his objections from within. It hardly suggests confidence in the ability of such committees to exercise the controls and sanctions they were designed to wield.