Salmond on course for a vital win

Muirfield golf clubs’ men only policy coming under increasing fire.

Well, well, well. Once it was “I agree with Nick.” Now David Cameron is agreeing with Alex Salmond.

And, just for the record, so does Nick Clegg.

The men-only policy at Muirfield golf club overlooked by politicians for decades is suddenly under fire from all sides thanks to Alex Salmond’s decision to boycott the Open.

His stand over Muirfield’s ban on women members was dismissed as hypocrisy by some critics because Alex played golf at another men-only course in England two years ago. That’s a bit like criticising an ex-smoker just because he used to smoke.

Others said Scotland’s powerful establishment wouldn’t lose a wink of sleep over losing Alex.

I suggested the SNP leader might be courting women’s votes ahead of the independence referendum.

And of course, with a 20% gender gap in support for the Yes vote, that just might have been in the back of Salmond’s mind. But whatever his motives, look what he’s done.

By choosing a big occasion to up the ante, Salmond has put sporting equality for women in the headlines. Now UK Sports Secretary Maria Miller is also boycotting the Open and her Labour shadow Harriet Harman has renewed her long-standing call for a ban on male-only clubs.

The Prime Minister’s spokesman says he “entirely understands” why Miller snubbed Muirfield adding, “exclusive memberships of this sort look more to the past than they do to the future”.

And Dave’s deputy, Nick Clegg said: “I was just dismayed and incredibly surprised to hear this still goes on in this day and age.

“I find it so out of step with everything else that’s happening in the rest of society. It just seems so old fashioned to have a golf club saying that just because you are a woman you can’t be a member of that club.”

Well quite. Even the politically neutral Commons leader Andrew Lansley said Muirfield’s policy was “reprehensible.”

The row is overshadowing the championship, and that’s a shame. But change only happens when business as usual becomes impossible. And sport is big business. Last week we learned that the London Olympics boosted the economy by £10 billion.

That’s why politicians are wary of getting involved in golf’s gender gaffes. Sport is big money and high profile so it’s hard to criticise. Nonetheless Salmond took the leap and now political leaders agree it’s time for golf’s elite to rethink a policy that discredits Scotland worldwide.

I was on the Qatar-based TV station Al Jazeera last week.They could hardly believe the Arab Emirate has a better record on equality in golf than the country that invented the game.

And just wait till the run up to the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. How can Scotland press other countries to field equal squads if our own (club) house still isn’t in order?

Still, thanks to this week’s stooshie, three things are clear.

One Big Lec cannae wield a putter on a men-only golf course ever again.

Two Scottish women should push harder for policy gains before the 2014 independence vote. This summer it’s been Muirfield, a victory with huge symbolic but limited practical impact. This winter it could be affordable childcare tough to deliver but a possible gamechanger in UK politics.

And finally this is what female-friendly leadership looks like. So Alex, why not park the independence lectures for a little while and let’s have more.