Tom Peterkin: Right tone – but was that a quiet dig at the boss?

By uttering the word "sorry", Nicola Sturgeon skilfully defused a difficult political situation. Her contrition was genuine, although some cynics might argue that the sick bag ought to have been doing the rounds, so vigorous was the hand-wringing.

By admitting that she was wrong to suggest that a court should "consider" an alternative to a custodial sentence for a fraudster, the health secretary and deputy first minister would appear to have drawn a line under this episode.

Her boss, Alex Salmond, has much to learn from her when it comes to crisis management. Sturgeon's deft handling of the matter was in stark contrast to the bombast and angry bluster seen in the parliament two weeks ago when Salmond attempted to defend his deputy.

His questionable insistence that Sturgeon had "an absolute obligation" to represent her constituent merely stoked up the controversy.

His claim that MSPs were obliged to represent their constituents was difficult to square with the MSPs' code of conduct, which said there may be "legitimate reasons" for a member to decline a constituent's case.

Yesterday, Sturgeon herself acknowledged that a more considered approach would have been more helpful.

For those in the press gallery, it was easy to interpret that as a quiet dig at Salmond. Of course, her statement made no explicit criticism of the First Minister's sledgehammer approach, but one suspected that was precisely what she was driving at.

There was no doubt that the events of the past fortnight had preyed very heavily on Sturgeon's mind and her remorse was keenly felt. But she delivered a finely crafted statement that struck the right tone.

By admitting to an honest mistake, she made Labour's calls for her resignation look slightly ridiculous.

The lesson for the SNP seems to be that a healthy dose of humility would not go amiss.

So can we expect more First Ministerial mea culpa in the future? Absolutely not.