Is it too cynical to wonder whether Gordon Brown's enthusiasm for a UK Olympic football team was prompted by a desire to get David Beckham involved in the games?

Beckham is the nation's biggest sporting icon, apparently hugely popular in China among other places.

But his presence in Beijing draws attention to the bizarre fact that Britain, the home of football, does not enter a team into the Olympic tournament.

Indeed, using him to promote a 2012 games in which other nations play football while the Team GB sits on the sidelines would look ridiculous.

So the obvious answer was to announce that Britain will go to the ball after all, with a joint UK-wide squad.

What Mr Brown hadn't considered, despite being one of their number, was the predictable reaction of the Scots, who regard hating the English football team as a national duty.

Scottish Nationalist leader Alex Salmond has described the idea as "ridiculous".

But more worryingly for Brown, the acting Labour leader in Scotland, Cathy Jamieson, has also rejected the proposal, calling instead for a tournament of the home nations to decide which one of them gets to represent the UK in Olympic football.

The reality is that the Scots would rather not take part at all than see a "British team" dominated by English players represent them in the games.

Football is, perhaps, a trivial matter when compared to the real business of government such as managing the economy and public services.

But many people care deeply about it. Mr Brown has given the Scots something else to feel aggrieved about and handed a gift to the cause of Scottish nationalism.

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