No Score Draw

That is my assessment of the Electoral Commission's findings on Wendy Alexander's donations. I direct you to Kezia Dugdale, who graciously restrains herself to publishing the Commission's report verbatim, when she could have launched a cry of 'In Your Face!' at those among us (including myself), who had visions of Wendy wearing a rather fetching white suit with charming black arrows all over it.

However, things may not be quite over with yet: the law is vague, and just because the Electoral Commission won't be taking things forward, doesn't mean no one else will. Scott at Love and Garbage notes that while the Commission will take no further action, an offence has been committed, and the report effectively states that.

To sum up, the Electoral Commission is not reporting Wendy Alexander to the fiscal, but believes that although she did not set out intentionally to break the rules, she didn't set out intentionally not to break the rules either, and consequently, rules were broken. Further, it may or may not believe that there was an attempt to cover up what went on, but can't prove matters either way.

So this report doesn't really do anything either way. While opponents of Labour can point to the Commission's acknowledgement that an offence has been committed, the Electoral Commission considers further pursuit of this matter to be pointless. While Labour can say that their Leader avoids further difficulties on this front, any notion that the findings serve to prove Alexander's honesty and integrity are wide of the mark: she has not been exonerated and she does not come out of this without a stain on her character.

It is therefore 0-0, and the final whistle has been blown. However, this is a knockout game and must be played to a finish: extra time must begin and if necessary, will be followed by a penalty shootout. What can we expect?

Firstly, the fiscal does have a report on Wendy Alexander from the Standards Commissioner. What will come of that? My initial hunch is very little - even if the case were watertight, the PF may wish to avoid this one like the plague.

Secondly, Labour's political tactics are coming under the spotlight once again: a nation is bewildered by the party's handling of the SNP Government's Budget, and the Constitutional Commission has failed to impress anyone in Labour ranks, with the exception of MSPs. Of course, Alexander is Leader of the Labour Group in the Scottish Parliament rather than Leader of the Scottish Labour Party, so no one else matters in theory. But she can still drag the MPs and Councillors down if she performs poorly, and they realise this.

Thirdly, and most importantly, Charlie Gordon is still the wildcard. If he ends up being cleared, he resigned from the frontbench for no reason and will have an axe to grind against Wendy. If he's criticised but stays as an MSP, he's hanging around like a bad smell, still able to taint the rest of his party. If he's damned, and resigns his seat, he triggers a By-Election, and Wendy Alexander faces her first major electoral test. Whatever the outcome, therefore, Charlie Gordon will have a profound effect on Wendy Alexander's fortunes in the short to medium term.

As always, we wait.