CORRUPTIO OPTIMI PESSIMA - the corruption of the best is the worst of all


With the Ministerial Code being much misunderstood, the following provides a brief explanation.

Once in a lifetime, Scotland has a Very Special First Minister, and when this is the case the Ministerial Code for ordinary Ministers and First Ministers is adapted. The space between the lines of the Code are used to insert the special provisions required. 

 

To keep things simple, the two versions of the Code still look the same, as the extra provisions are added using invisible ink that only a Very Special First Minister can read. 

 

These special clauses mean it does not matter if our current First Minister cannot recall the exact timing or purpose of a given meeting, and did not get round to recording it properly, because the special version of the Code makes clear that a Very Special First Minister does not need to trouble themselves with such niceties. 

 

Equally, when speaking to the Scottish Parliament, a Very Special First Minister can say whatever sounds best on any given day, safe in the knowledge that the special version of the Code allows the meaning of this to be adjusted to suit the Very Special First Minister’s purpose at any later date. 

 

For potential breaches of the Ministerial Code, a Very Special First Minister can take comfort from the extra clause in the special version of the Code clarifying how a Very Special First Minister is always to be considered above reproach, so keeping them firmly on the moral high ground.

 

Hopefully, this explanation of the Ministerial Code will help avoid further misunderstandings arising over who is right and wrong since, as the special version of the Code states, only one person can always be right and that is the person who sets the rules, which in the case of a Very Special First Minister is helpfully also the only person that can read them.

 

 

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