Slippery John........

That nice Mr Swinney has got himself in to a bit of a pickle in relation to the Scottish Variable Rate of tax which he (presumably) allowed to lapse, by accident or design, in 2007, shortly after his party came to power. He has been asked to appear before the Scottish Parliament tomorrow to explain things.

However, today, this has appeared courtesy of the Press Association, a couple of hours ago:

"Finance Secretary John Swinney says "key questions" on the cost of tax powers must be answered by the UK Government before he can make a statement to Parliament on the loss of Holyrood's "tartan tax".

Err.......no!

The purpose of appearing before Parliament is to give an account of how either he or his cabinet handled the issue, as seen from their perspective......what they did, when and why.

This does not depend on what account might be subsequently given by others.

You know what they say John, full disclosure is the only way to go when in a pickle like this.

MSPs have been hounded out of ministerial jobs or party leadership roles for an awful lot less than this.

When John Swinney looks around him at his cabinet colleagues and special advisors, especially his boss, he will no doubt reflect that we are all ultimately judged partly by the company which we choose to keep.

There is a lot of mileage and intrigue in this story yet, with the Scottish Government firmly on the back foot.