We’ll see what today will bring for Scotland (my guess is still a narrow rejection of independence), but, whatever the result, David Cameron has, however dishonorably, every intention of remaining in office. In the event of a vote for independence, he won’t find that as easy as he’d like. And this mock resignation letter prepared for him by the Spectator’s Jonathan Foreman sets out some of the reasons why that’s appropriate:

[T]he blame is mine for allowing the referendum question to be worded in a way that inevitably favoured the secessionist cause. As is obvious now, I should have insisted on wording such as: ‘Do you think Scotland should leave the United Kingdom?’ or ‘Should Scotland remain part of the United Kingdom?’
Unfortunately my career in television PR and then at the top of Conservative politics gave me little training in the art of negotiation. I now accept that I should have sent a more able and experienced negotiator to wrangle with a politician as accomplished as Alex Salmond. To my shame I must also confess that, before those negotiations, it had been suggested that my government seek advice from colleagues in Canada and elsewhere who had successfully defeated similar referendums and separatist movements. I declined to follow that advice, underestimating as I did the urgency and importance of the question of Scottish secession.
It was also, as the referendum results make all too clear, deeply foolish of me to agree to Alex Salmond’s demand that teenagers be allowed to vote in the referendum. It did not occur to me at the time that the only 16- and 17-year-olds likely to take part in such a vote would be passionate nationalists, and that I might be dooming the cause of the Union.
It is true that Conservative modernisers and my long-time image consultants were adamant on this question, but in the end the decision was mine. It was unforgivably trivial and short-sighted of me to put the future of the UK at risk for the chance of a slight improvement in our brand image among young people…
All I can say in my defence is that at the time our pollsters said it was highly unlikely that the nationalists would ever have a real chance of winning.However, there is no excuse for the lack of seriousness, effort and thought that I and my cabinet put into the referendum until too late in the day.

Indeed not.

In re-reading Foreman’s article it’s difficult not to come to the conclusion that Cameron should resign, not only in the event of a ‘yes’, but also in the case of a narrow ‘no’, not least because of the characteristically last minute promises he has made to the Scots, desperate, poorly thought-through promises that may come back to haunt him.

The Guardian reports:

Senior Conservative party members are calling for Westminster to restrict the voting rights of Scottish MPs over England-only legislation if Scotland votes against independence on Thursday. Lord Kenneth Baker, the former Tory cabinet minister, said he believed a no vote would make it inevitable that the voting rights of Scottish MPs in the Commons would be reduced to ensure they could not vote on England-only legislation and tax matters. He said promises by the UK parties to give the Scottish parliament much greater autonomy over income tax rates and other minor taxes raised big problems for the House of Commons, since it would leave Scottish MPs able to vote on income tax rates in England when English MPs could not vote on those taxes in Scotland.

That does not seem right.

As UKIP will be only too pleased to remind the Tories.