"Pressure grew last night for a public inquiry into the case of the former detective wrongly accused of perjury in the now infamous fingerprint case. Strathclyde Joint Police Board agreed to petition the Scottish Executive for a full review of the circumstances which led to its £750,000 payment to Shirley McKie ahead of court proceedings. The board's call was echoed by Alex Salmond, SNP party leader, who told a public meeting: "Demands for a public inquiry are now irresistible."
The need for a public inquiry has now been backed by Ms McKie and her supporters, by the Fingerprint Office and its supporters, by the chair of one of the parliamentary justice committees and by the SNP as well as by the Strathclyde Joint Police Board. Mr McConnell's assertion that everyone involved accepts that it was an "honest mistake" seems less and less convincing. And, on Newsnicht Scotland yesterday evening, Ms Anne Mackenzie noted (rather maliciously I thought) that Ms Jamieson, the justice minister, had maintained her trappist silence by refusing - for the seventh successive occasion - to come onto the programme to discuss the matter.
Not for the first time, Ministers must be wondering how they got into this mess.
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