Crowd-funded electoral petition to be lodged this afternoon

An electoral petition seeking to overturn the election of Northern Isles MP Alistair Carmichael was flown from Orkney to Edinburgh this morning.

A crowd funding appeal – “The People Versus Carmichael” – was launched on Tuesday to raise money to cover the legal cost of the petition, which has to be lodged with the Court of Session by the end of today.

The petition followed Mr Carmichael’s accepting responsibility, last Friday, for a leaked, pre-election, memo that led to a The Daily Telegraph article claiming that Scotland’s First Minister would have preferred that David Cameron remain in Downing Street.

See also: The People versus Carmichael: what would have to be proven for legal action to succeed?