Police investigate Alistair Carmichael over memo leak
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Version 0 of 1. Police Scotland have confirmed that they are investigating whether a crime was committed by MP Alistair Carmichael when he falsely denied leaking a memo intended to discredit Scottish National party leader Nicola Sturgeon during the general election campaign. Related: The Guardian view on Alistair Carmichael: he should stay – for now | Editorial Following a Cabinet Office inquiry which concluded last Friday, the Liberal Democrat former Scottish secretary admitted he authorised his special adviser to release a memo about a private conversation in which Scotland’s first minister purportedly said she wanted David Cameron to remain as prime minister. Sturgeon and the French diplomat involved in the conversation have both made clear that the memo was inaccurate. A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “We can confirm that a complaint has been received and inquiries are ongoing to establish whether there is any criminality.” The day after the story was first published in the Daily Telegraph in April, Carmichael flatly denied having had any role in leaking the memo. He told Channel 4 News: “I’ve told you the first I became aware of this, and this is already on the public record, was when I received a phone call on Friday afternoon from a journalist making me aware of it.” Among those calling for him to consider his position over the weekend, including Sturgeon herself, the point has been made that his sanctioning of the leak was compounded by the fact that he lied about his knowledge of it at the time and he was thus re-elected as the only Liberal Democrat MP in Scotland on a false prospectus. On Monday, Carmichael denied that he initially lied about his knowledge of the memo. Speaking on BBC Radio Orkney’s Around Orkney programme he insisted: “What was true was that the first time I had seen that document in its detail, in its text, was when I saw it published in the pages of the Daily Telegraph.” “The proposal came to me by my staff, who said this is what was in this document, we think it should be put in the public domain, we believe it is in the public interest that it should be put out there that there’s something different being said in public compared to what is being said in private.” A crowdfunding campaign to raise money to pay for a legal challenge to Carmichael election, which saw his majority in the Orkney and Shetland seat slashed from more than 10,000 to 817 in the face of a strong SNP challenge, has raised more than £20,000 in less than 24 hours. Nearly 1,300 people have donated to the campaign, launched by Kirkwall-based pro-independence and SNP supporter Fiona MacInnes. She aims to raise £60,000 to make an election petition through the courts under the Representation of the People Act 1983, which allows for voters or disappointed candidates to lodge a petition questioning the result of a parliamentary election if they believe corruption or illegality has occurred. The campaign’s Indiegogo pages states: “This campaign is not supported by any political party but by residents of Orkney and Shetland who are disappointed in the behaviour of their MP and want our politics conducted honestly and without smears.” The SNP’s leader of the Commons, Pete Wishart, has reiterated his party’s calls for Carmichael to stand down and for a full investigation by the parliamentary commissioner for standards. |