He's known for playing a savvy political operator in the TV drama The Good Wife, but actor Alan Cumming's own political skills were found wanting when he made remarks about last month's Brexit vote.

In an interview with the Sunday Herald, the Scottish star, who played Eli Gold on the US TV series, was asked for his opinion on the state of UK politics of late, and he certainly didn't hold back. He said:

“I was appalled when I heard the result. And I have three words to sum it up. Stupid. English. People. But you could see it coming. I did an interview for STV news a couple of years ago and I said there would be a referendum on the EU and Britain would vote to leave, but Scotland would want to stay."

He added:

“I also said we’d have another (independence) referendum. Now, I hope that people will see the irony in that one of the major reasons the Yes vote didn’t win was people were scared we wouldn’t be allowed in the EU if we were independent. And now we’re not allowed to be in the EU because we’re part of Britain.”

The "stupid English people" annoyed a lot of people, including, erm, Right Said Fred. https://twitter.com/TheFreds/status/757254307657969664 https://twitter.com/mattforde/status/757126830679789568 One tweeter referred to Cumming as "Scotland's Bono": https://twitter.com/DaveScott1977/status/757131375438880768 https://twitter.com/jeffmas1/status/757526728227053568 https://twitter.com/mowbrayjackson/status/757502239955124224 Scottish Conservative MP Murdo Fraser, told The Courier paper:

“Language like this is deeply unhelpful and only serves to stir up tensions. We can only imagine the reaction if someone used this language in relation to Muslim or Jewish people. I hope that Alan Cumming will reflect on his choice of words and regret them.”

Last night, the actor moved to neutralise the controversy with the kind of non-apology apology that ensures the row will probably keep going. https://twitter.com/Alancumming/status/757307231490551808 Best take a lesson from the book of Eli Gold, Alan:

Via CBS