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The Wales Office, the Whitehall department that looks after Welsh affairs, has been bending over backwards to stress its neutrality in the forthcoming referendum on the Welsh assembly's powers.

Short of flying the Swiss or Red Cross flags above Gwydyr House, it is hard to imagine what more Cheryl Gillan and her deputy David Jones could have done to emphasise their department's even-handedness in the March 3 vote.

As David Jones told the Politics Show earlier this year: "It's a quasi-judicial process and there will be a lot of people watching to see if the Wales Office makes any slip ups, so our position is that we stay absolutely neutral".

So far, so neutral. But this impartiality does not appear to extend to the process to choose a new British city to mark the Queen's diamond jubilee in 2012.

No sooner had the contest been announced than the Wales Office rushed out an official backing Wrexham's bid for city status.

David Jones said: "It is only natural that Wrexham should be recognised as a city - it is already seen as the 'capital' of North Wales and is already a favourite for many to win city status as the educational and industrial hub of North Wales."

So Wrexham appears to have the Wales Office vote sewn up. Or does it? Aberystwyth and Llanelli are now considering entering the competition. Only one town can win. So should the good people of Aberystwyth and Llanelli prepare themselves for disappointment or even a ministerial snub?

Not necessarily. A spokesman tells me: "The Wales Office will be backing all bids from Welsh towns for city status."

That's good to know. Quasi-judicial process or not, even I might struggle to appear strictly neutral should Penarth enter the competition.

And if Amersham throws its hat into the ring even Cheryl Gillan might find herself unable to wave the Welsh flag in cabinet.

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