You have to feel sorry for Home Secretary John Reid. Just a smidgen. For a millisecond.

He’s just been given the worst job in Government. (Mind, at the rate he gets through jobs it was only a matter of time.) His predecessor was fired after the immigration service released foreign criminals – including murderers and rapists – instead of deporting them. Reid promised to sort out the mess.

But just weeks after taking over, the new man was forced into a humiliating apology to MPs for giving duff information about foreign prisoners in Britain.

Just imagine how he must have felt when he discovered that the Home Office had done it again. And that he’d be the one eating humble pie. You can’t help wondering how blue the air was in Marsham Street when the Glaswegian hard man found out. Pity the poor messenger.