British-Irish council representatives of Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Irish Republic, the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey all voted for the permanent secretariat of the council to be based in Edinburgh.
Guess who vetoed the move? You're right, the Welsh Secretary Peter Hain (pictured above), who was representing the UK, at a meeting of the BIC on Friday in Jersey.
Listen to this for an excuse for the appalling behaviour of the UK government which was then accused of being spiteful towards the SNP and of anti-Scottish discrimination - "...Downing Street has responded angrily by accusing the SNP of a breach of protocol in going public on the matter."
Mr Hain claimed there had to be a total consensus on the decision and simply refused to agree to it.
In the first round of voting, Edinburgh received 5 votes, the Isle of Man 2 and Cardiff 1. A second vote was held when Edinburgh had 6 votes, the Isle of Man 1 and Cardiff 1. At this point the Isle of Man withdrew and a third vote was held. Edinburgh received 6 votes and Cardiff 2 as Mr Hain, who had previously voted for the Isle of Man, switched to Cardiff. The Welsh Assembly delegate said he was happy to accept the result but Mr Hain refused.
Scottish government officials are furious and are accusing Gordon Brown of ordering Mr Hain to veto any move which would give Scotland more international standing.
Mr Salmond will make a statement to the Scottish Parliament this week.
Those who attended the meeting were:
Alex Salmond, Scottish First Minister
Peter Robinson, Northern Ireland First Minister
Brian Cowen, Irish Taoiseach
Eamon O Cuiv, Northern Ireland Minister for Community Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs
Martin McGuinness, Deputy Northern Ireland First Minister
Rhodri Morgan, Welsh First Minister
Peter Hain, British government
plus heads of administration from the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey.
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