Chris

The issue here is one of credibility - of all those involved, and of the story itself.

The story, even without any evidence at all, is entirely plausible, because it simply reflects the position everybody knows the SNP leadership holds in private.

The mechanism by which the story was reported, via several steps of diplomatic whispering, is, again, plausible. It is simply how the game is played. Everyone involved in diplomacy knows this. Sturgeon apparently didn't, and didn't understand the implications of her position as merely chief executive of a devolved administration. The SNP may like to lord it up and pretend they're running a government, but the only people they are deceiving are themselves. Foreign diplomats show courtesy where it is due, and that is to the actual government whose territory they are on, not regional politicians.

Ultimately there are never going to be any documents published, and nobody has lied to parliament so there will be no inquiry and no censure. People who lean heavily to one side of the divide or other will believe their own side. A lot of people in the middle will look at this and make their own minds up. I predict that a lot of people will accept that this is true, simply because we all already know it is. And that Labour in Scotland will not easily allow this to go away.