Court hears that MP ‘enormously’ regrets memo leak

By James Mulholland
United News Service, Edinburgh

Alistair Carmichael MP has said he “enormously” regrets allowing his special advisor to leak a memo to a newspaper about Nicola Sturgeon allegedly wanting David Cameron to continue as Prime Minister.

The former Scottish Secretary also told judges today, on the second day of proceedings at the election court, in Edinburgh, that he didn’t lie to a Channel 4 news reporter in a bid to protect his personal reputation.

He told the court that the reason he denied knowledge of the leak was that he wanted journalists to focus on the SNP’s alleged double standards.

He said the nationalists had claimed to voters that they were a left-wing party while their strategists privately preferred the prospect of a Conservative victory to a Labour one.

Today, Mr Carmichael’s counsel, Roddy Dunlop QC, asked his client: “Do you regret becoming involved in the leak?”

Mr Carmichael replied: “Enormously.”

Earlier in evidence, Mr Carmichael told the court that he sanctioned the leaking of the memo for political reasons. He said the memo benefited the Liberal Democrats and the Labour Party.

He also said that he sanctioned the leak because he believed the SNP were trying to convince Scottish voters that they were left wing.

He told the court that he thought the truth of the matter was that SNP strategists would welcome the election of a Conservative government.

Mr Carmichael added: “It (the memo) chimed with what people with a sophisticated understanding of Scottish politics thought.”

Mr Carmichael told Jonathan Mitchell QC, who is acting for the constituents, that the reason why he told an untruth about his knowledge of the memo to Channel 4 news was because he was trying to control the news agenda.

He said that if he had admitted to about the memo, journalists would have written about the circumstances surrounding the leak.

Mr Carmichael said: “It had nothing to do my reputation.”

He added: “I was trying to ensure that the coverage focused on the substance of the leak; that the SNP stood to benefit from the election of a Conservative government.”

The court has heard that following the publication of the story, senior civil servants at the Cabinet Office launched an investigation into how the memo was leaked.

Mr Carmichael didn’t fully tell the truth about the leak to the inquiry until five days after the general election. On Monday afternoon, he said he was “less than fully truthful” with the investigation in its initial stages.

On Tuesday, Mr Carmichael was told by Mr Mitchell that his response during the initial stages of the probe was “calculated and intended to mislead.”

He replied to that comment: “Yes, truthfully, I would have to say that.”

At the end of his evidence on Tuesday, Mr Dunlop asked his client whether he had been truthful in his account in what happened with regard to the leak.

Mr Carmichael said he had been truthful.

He added: “I have seen what happened to Tommy Sheridan.”

The constituents who brought the case to court – Timothy Morrison, Phemie Matheson, Fiona Grahame and Carolyn Welling, all of Orkney – believe Mr Carmichael breached electoral law. The quartet were aided by crowd funding.

They maintain that Mr Carmichael’s statement to Channel 4 news on when he first became aware of the leak broke the Representation of the Peoples Act. The legislation states that a person will be guilty of an illegal practice if before or during an election, for the purpose of affecting the return of a candidate, they make or publish a false statement of fact over a candidate’s personal character or behaviour.

Mr Carmichael denies any wrongdoing.

The hearing continues.