THE so-called Frenchgate affair was not the Scotland Office's finest hour.
Indeed, the leak of a misleading memo about Nicola Sturgeon by the LibDem Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael and his special adviser may well rank as an all-time low.
Yet the Scotland Office seems determined to lower its standing further still.
As we reveal today, it has refused to release the names of the other ministers who were sent the same dodgy account of a meeting between the French Ambassador and the First Minister.
Disclosing this standard bit of government business in response to a freedom of information request from the Sunday Herald would, claims the Scotland Office, put the physical and mental health of civil servants at risk and even deter others from entering Her Majesty's service.
This patent nonsense comes only days after the Scotland Office refused to release the full text of the memo - which is largely public already - in case it damaged Anglo-French relations.
It is hard to know whether to burst out laughing or feel insulted by such preposterous excuses.
This is the classic, shutters-down Whitehall arrogance which freedom of information was meant to end when it was introduced a decade ago.
It seems news travels rather slowly at the Scotland Office - unless it's leaked, of course.
Frenchgate could have been an opportunity for the new Conservative Scottish Secretary.
His predecessor out of the picture, David Mundell could have ushered in a period of greater transparency and honesty at Dover House.
Instead, he appears content to have his officials spout rubbish and continue the opacity and tricksiness of the old regime. However it is not hard to put right.
The Scotland Office should stop digging itself deeper and open its files.
Otherwise people may wonder whether this was a wholly LibDem affair after all.
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