Simon Jenkins, in The Guardian online newspaper, writes:
How can the British Tommy, the jolly
tar or the air ace confront the
dreaded foreigner, when a defence
secretary cannot say boo to George
Osborne? Be a man, Fox, they cry. The
black spot is under the plate. The
pistol is in the gents.
I googled for the exact phrase, and the only hit is this article. Googling for "black spot under plate" just gets me a lot of stuff about toenails. What on earth could he mean?
Best Answer
Perhaps the black spot is an allusion to Treasure Island? Perhaps the meaning is that (Liam) Fox (defence secretary) should quit (i.e. accept the black spot).