How do solve a problem like Wee Wendy?

If my blood pressure is high (see below), I wonder how Gordon Brown is coping? Hot on the heels of a trouncing in the local elections in England and Wales, and Boris Johnson's victory in London came poll ratings showing Labour at it's lowest level since polling began. Cherie Blair publishes her memoirs, the latest revelations from John Prescott's autobiography are less than flattering and the 10p tax band row rumbles on and it looks like this month's Crewe bye-election is already all but lost. How can things get any worse? Step forward Wendy Alexander!
Last weekend oor Wendy took an opportunity to grab some headlines on the lunchtime Politics Show. It appears that the gallus wee besom decided unilaterally to change Labour's position on the independence referendum. "Bring It On", the Bold Wendy challenged Alec Salmond.
A week later, the damage is still being calculated. It's opened the split between Westminster and Holyrood for all to see, it's made Gordon Brown look even weaker and more uncertain, and it's undermined - although not fatally - the Calman Commission and the working relationship with the other opposition parties at Holyrood. It's also the SNP yet another golden opportunity to exploit.
Why did she do it? To show that she is her own person, and will not be dictated to by London? If so, and it's a direct challenge to Gordon Brown, there will only be one winner and it's not going to be Ms Alexander. In saying that, the real winners slightly longer-term will be the Tories and the SNP.
Last Monday, in a desperately inept damage limitation exercise that bordered on farce, Brown and Alexander claimed they were saying the same thing. That defence crumbled during the course of the week and resulted in Ian Gray, an able Minister and a decent guy, being forced to try to defend the indefensible and explain the inexplicable on Newsnight Scotland. It was the most uncomfortable interview I have ever seen, almost too awful to watch. No amount of 'spin' can get Labour out of this shambles, and to attempt to try to treat people like idiots is very unwise.
I've always thought that having the Referendum early in the Parliament would have been a good idea - despite the SNP's victory last May I still believe that the majority of Scots would opt to remain in the Union. However that was before the SNP was able to build up a head of steam, and before the Labour Party had shown itself both totally inept as an Opposition in Scotland and became increasingly unpopular at Westminster.
To call for that referendum now is madness. If called, it would in all likelihood become a vote on the popularity of the respective governments at Holyrood and Westminster (Labour versus SNP, not Union versus Independence) and the result could be cataclysmic. Wendy Alexander should never have used a ploy or tactic like this to try to wrong foot the SNP - the result could have been devastating. The future of the nation is far too important to be used for a wee bit of petty party political point-scoring. Who advised her that this was a sound tactic? Did anyone suggest thinking this thing through? It was worrying to hear that Wendy had the unanimous support of Labour's MSPs too - did every single one of them think Alec Salmond will bide his time, quite rightly saying that he is sticking to his manifesto commitment (remember Labour promised a referendum of the new EU Treaty too!) As it is, the SNP are further strengthened and the Labour Party looks split, disorganised - and unelectable.
At the time of writing Wee Wendy is back-tracking so it's just possible that, come my next post, the Party's position on the referendum could have changed again. A week is, indeed a long time in politics! In this surreal state anything is possible - it looks like policy is now being made up as we go along, off the cuff as we go from interview to interview.
Readers of this blog will know that I have never been Wendy's most ardent admirer. As far as I am concerned she should have gone a long time ago but this latest - again, completely avoidable - fiasco must surely be the final straw. If Labour is to recover from what seems like a hopeless position the fightback must start now. Gordon Brown would be showing real leadership if he dispensed with the services of the calamity that is Wendy Alexander. That would be a positive first step, but would need the support of the Labour group at Holyrood. Those MSPs must now have the sense to put party first, before any misguided personal loyalties. If she stays, recovery of Labour in Scotland is remote and that will have dire consequences in next year's EU elections and the General Election in 2010. Not to act will consign Labour to the political wilderness for years to come.
Wendy must go - as the lady herself so rightly said: bring it on!