Border Clash
Instead of allowing various independent inquiries to do their job - by establishing exactly what happened and on whose authority - Theresa May waded in, named names and apportioned blame.
When a cool head was required - this was the industrial relations equivalent of letting a bull loose in a china shop.
The civil servant at the centre of the storm - Brodie Clark - had already been suspended from his job as head of the UK border force - which is never a 'neutral act' when operating at such a senior level.
Nor could he defend himself when allegations where being made about his behaviour - both in the press and in the House of Commons.
Now the Home Secretary could be right - the civil service may have acted without ministerial authority - but that still doesn't allow a government minister to be both judge and jury in their own cause.
Funny thing is that the same thing - in some ways at least - happened to me when I resigned from the Labour party 12 years ago - while still acting as Head of Local Government for Unison in Scotland.
The story broke in the run up to the Scottish TUC in 1999 and all the talk amongst political journalists - was that I would be suspended from my job for 'bringing the union into disrepute'.
An article along those lines even appeared in one of the Sunday newspapers - planted there quite deliberately of course.
But as a believer in attack being the best form of defence - in such circumstances - I let it be known that I would stand up to the bullies - and not allow myself to be suspended.
If that happened, I made it clear that I would resign from my job immediately - hold a press conference and explain to the world - what dastardly deeds were afoot.
And do you know what - I wasn't suspended after all.
An easy thing for me to say - but that was Brodie Clark's big mistake.
Now that the boot is on the a different foot however - so it will be interesting to see what happens next.
