In case you’ve been napping
Posted on
May 22, 2015 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
…or, like us, out buying Eurovision party snacks:
This is a non-trivial matter. The (at the time) Secretary of State for Scotland seems to have just admitted deliberately and knowingly undermining the democratically-elected First Minister. The report may have been sneakily published on the eve of a Bank Holiday weekend, but we suspect this one won’t have gone away by Tuesday.
Does that say, ‘Your’s wow’?
Carbuncle is a proven liar and has deliberately attempted to deceive the public, he must be thrown out of his party and politics.
If there was any integrity in WM, he would be sacked as an MP and a re-run of the election should take place in Orkney and Shetland
The bugger should fall on his sword – no question; and if he doesn’t the folk in the Northern Isles should demand it. Also eagerly awaiting apologies to the FM from all those who jumped on the bandwagon, politicians and journalists alike. You reading this Kez?
Well thats the Lib Dem panda gone.
Now for the Red Tory and the Blue Tory
Have you seen the FM’s response to that “apology”. Quite strong in the final two paragraphs.
link to snp.org
Come and join us Stu!
[On topic] Mmm, Eurovision party snacks! 🙂
I can’t say i am surprised, Just because you have a photo holding a musical instrument doesn’t mean you can play it. The man is a charlatan, a cuckoo, totally unfit to hold an office where honour and integrity are a requirement.
@Brotyboy 5:42pm
It certainly doesn’t look like either “faithfully” or “sincerely”
Sorry I’ve nothing to say except I’am so fecking angry!
I’ve just visited his website and called him a fraudster and told him to resign.
La merde frappe le ventilateur…
Didn’t we all just know it?
I expect his constituents will now be calling for a by-election. I know I would.
The Telegraph are disgracefully reporting this under the headline:
“Nicola Sturgeon memo ‘recorded accurately’, official inquiry finds”
Utterly disgraceful, and no comments allowed.
The horse finally opened it’s gob then 🙂
I suspected the fat bastard all along, lying against our 1st minister and then running and hiding . This lying scum bag should be made to apologise to the whole country . These troughing pigs dont deserve democracy, they dont deserve to represent us at all.
This is an affront to democracy.
There is a petition on change.org – please sign it
I assume that Mundell also knew; this should be pursued vigorously.
@Carmichael, what did Mundell know about this disgraceful affair.
How dare you and your Unionist allies smear our First Minister.
Can I suggest you leave Scotland before you are arrested.
I hope Carmichael resigns as he is not a fit and proper person to be an elected representative in any law making capacity.
As I said on the other thread…
So, that’ll be a green light to deception and damn right lying in public office if he doesn’t go?
Remember, this is the bloke that stated “These things happen” all knowingly for what he had done.
And poor wee James Cook took umbridge at the reaction of the not-so-daft public getting upset at his gloat-fuelled attack on Nicola!!
Mr Carmichael; get yer lardy arse back to your constituency and let the electorate tell you how much regard you are now held in.
INTEGRITY…GONE.
Carmichael should resign immediately.
This explains why the inquiry took so long. If this had come out before voting in the election Carmichael would not be an MP and the SNP would have had another seat.
This is a man who through his personal employment,and Offices of High State ,calculates the implications of every move he makes.To now say it was just an error of judgement is also a downright lie.It was designed to discredit Nicola.
He is the epitomy of everything I hate about the people who have traditionally stalked the Halls of Westminster.
He has to go,but by what route?
Watch Alistair Carmichael dissembling over the leaked memo in this pre-election video. Shocking!
link to news.channel4.com
So Alistair carmichael says if he was still a minister he would resign. But he knew it was a lie and the truth when he was, but it wasn’t a resigning matter then when he was a minister. No wonder they are down to one in Scotland……sadly the wrong one!!!
It seems like the mainstream press have gone Pete Tong on this.
The minute that happens with a unionist MP or MSP its over for them.
Wheres the standard Wings
(Insert name) IS A LIAR headline
Can Carmichael be openly called a liar in The House now?..f*** protocol
No surprise here then! How would this news have influenced the result of his seat on 7 May. The man is a scoundrel and unfit for public office!
Carmichael has effectively cheated his way into a job.
Don’t worry folks he’ll not get a moments peace until he goes. But he has no respect for his colleagues Scott and McArthur who as I write are probably cursing him as their seats which were precarious to say the least before this are now certain to fall.
Auld Rock
Rev
Look out for Nicola’s “You must have said something!” interview by mentalist Sky News bimbo
Its ubelivable..or as Nicola comments “This is absurd!”
Sign the petition for his resignation
link to you.38degrees.org.uk
I’m struggling to imagine how the investigation cost £1.4 million. Is this right? How could it cost that much?
Too right it’s non trivial. Carmichael denied knowing about this and now admits he knew about it all along. He has slurred political opponents and masquaraded to the voters of Orkney and Shetland as being a man of integrity which he clearly isn’t. Further to that in allowing an enquiry to go ahead when he knew it was his actions in the first place amounts to a complete waste of public money.
I’ve voted Lib Dem in the past and didn’t do so last time because after hopping into bed with the Tories I think they lack integrity. Unless they take some action or unless he resigns as an MP then I think any pretence of integrity and credibility is further undermined. LibDems – welcome to the political wilderness, with the likes of Carmichael as an MP you’re going to be there an awfully long time.
Alexander Morrison “Alistair” Carmichael is a `Dead man Walking`.
@James Cook,is this the type of politician we want folks?,Is It?
We knew he was a coward – ‘Help me Rhona!’
Now we know he is a liar and a cheat too. He lied to and cheated his constituents. Intolerable that he should remain.
Sky News right now blindly continuing the spin that something is still rather dodgy regards Nicola comments…this one will run and run.
The people of Orkney have still to awaken from their political slumber,to put it kindly.
Or is it just that they are such British Nationalists/Unionists that they will accept any agent of the British State to represent them.Even such a dishonest, disreputable and unappealing character as this.
Orkney,you can do so much better than this frog.
Its fairly obvious that he has no intention of resigning, he waited until after the election, or perhaps his former colleagues in the Tory party waited until after the election to repay his “loyalty”. He’s only aplogising now because he was caught.
He will do an Eric Joyce and hang on for 5 years in the hope it will all be forgotten about or until he can find a safe berth to keep him in the style to which he has become accustomed after the electorate get their say in 5 years time.
So Carmichael is on the run for a few days. If I was him, I wouldn’t bother coming back.
This is exactly the type of case where constituents should have the right of recall. It was not simply a lapse of judgement as he so blithely states. He compounded his unethical behaviour by blatantly lying to cover up his decision.
To have a blatant liar as an MP, especially when he abused his position simply to gain re-election and damage the standing of the First Minister and supporters of her party, is beyond the pale. How can he ever be trusted again?
If he wishes to retain any semblance of honour he should resign from his position so that a bye-election can be held. He can of course be allowed to stand again if his local party wish him to so that voters can give their verdict.
And one, of course, can ask why on earth did this information not come to light BEFORE the election? It only required Carmichael to be asked one simply question by those supposedly investigating the issue at the time. We, of course, know why – it would have rebounded horrendously on Unionist parties, particularly Liberals.
It is not only Carmichael’s reputation that has gone down the plug-hole, so has any faith in the investigatory procedures applied in such circumstances. One might as well state there is a similar lack of faith in the investigations of almost any issue that impacts on those who believe themselves members of an untouchable elite ie paedophiles in high positions, decision making associated with the War in Iraq, banking frauds.
The sooner Scots can dissociate from Westminster the better.
I agree with many of the readers, this is an example of how the elected persons should be held accountible for their actions and there should be an option for him to be recalled to his constituency and the people allowed to decide if he is fit to represent them.
This is what happens if you tell lies!!!!!
How did it cost £1.4 bil?
What do you think the hourly rate of each lawyer they used is?
Can we now trust that every conviction achieved by this man as Procurator Fiscal depute for Edinburgh and Aberdeen is fair and just? If he behaved then as he does now – perhaps not
Link to Carmichael resign petition.
link to change.org
…all of the above. I feel sorry for Chris Cairns who has been slaving all week over another Saturday edition of his mind-boggling toon. His Friday night oot with the lads has just evaporated into a peatbog mist.
After Chris’s enforced mental recovery on the Mediterranean beaches it was hoped a full recovery was imminent. However I suspect this may be a setback, so be prepared for Stu’s stickmen again. We luv u really Chris. 🙂
Here’s the petition link – it would be good if folk could continue to copy/paste this as the thread develops so it doesn’t get lost.
Let’s get this lying toad heaved down the well asap.
link to change.org
This man is a disgrace to all politicians in Westminster today.
He LIED straight – faced to all questions about nikigate at the time. He has now only admitted his involvement because he has been caught out.
Carmichael may, I say may, have been an honourable member of the House of Commons at one time in his political career, not any more his is completely 100% DISHONOURABLE!
I did mention on the previous thread that as Carmichael has now admitted his involvement in Nikigate that I questioned the involvement of Fluffy. I am still of the opinion that Fluffy could not have known nothing about this at the time.
I know Fluffy knows nothing usually about anything … except pot holes apparently, but I am certain he MUST have had “insider” knowledge of this despicable act being carried out by Carmichael.
Carmichael MUST resign. If he does not resign then his constituents must demand he resign.
Perhaps now is the time to demand an investigation into what exactly Fluffy knew. 😉
Are there not grounds for an official criminal investigation here?
@ H Scott
Perhaps Carmicheal, Mundell & the labour dude, who’s name I forget, would all not have been MP’s had this came out & SNP would ave had another 3 MP’s because as we know; They’re all in it together!
One of the SNP MPs should table a question asking why it has taken so long for this information to be released. It clearly could have influenced the election result in the constituency.
I suspect that the chances of having the Orkney & Shetland election result declared void are pretty remote. The scandal of the Literal Democrat candidate in the 1994 Euro Elections in Devon is evidence enough that once declared, a result is unlikely ever to be declared void. link to lgcplus.com
I suspect that we are going to have to rely on Mr Carmichael’s integrity and hope that he resigns. Hahahahahahahahahaha.
Not that I’m cynical, but I doubt the report would have come out like this had the Lib Dems still been in coalition.
@Bob Mack –
He has to go,but by what route?
Perhaps a catapult…something like this…
link to youtube.com
Actual real goons. Who knew.
The report may have been sneakily published on the eve of a Bank Holiday weekend,
May have been?!
The change.org petition currently has just over 2,000 signatures, the 38-degree one has almost 800. Just sayin…
The lib-dems are one of the strongest exponents of recall for MPs, so what is their strategy going to be here?
If they call for him to stand down triggering a by-election it’s risking their only Scottish seat.
If they do nothing then they can no longer hide behind the ‘tainted by Tory association’ line, as they will have proven themselves again to be unprincipled!
Decisions, decisions (who’s in charge just now anyway) 🙂
He has to go – and go now !
This high office Establishment UK public official tried to smear FM of Scotland. He lied publicly and calculated his ‘coming clean’ (I think the police call it) when it suited him and his UK State cronies for political gain before election.
High office in ‘Referendum’ as well (still feel so sure the result was clean there ?).
Calls all sort of things into question ?
This man said the YES campaign were making figures up !
Convenient own up on night when no scrutiny on Scotland 2015 or Scotland Tonight are aired – oh this is so calculated folks.
Public Hol the lot.
STV & BBC must hit this hard on Tuesday night or we have to raise stakes via online petition for forced resignation!!
LIBDEM / Charlatan MP now represents Orkney & Shetland – ABSOLUTE DISGRACE
Is he taking the rap for someone else?
A certain Mr Fluffidge perhap?
Seems awfully keen to admit his error on Sky TV, I smell a rather odious guff…
Mr Carmichael has brought shame on himself,the office of Secretary of State for Scotland and parliament.Further,he has bismirched the First Minister and caused embarrassment to the French ambassador.He should resign immediately.If he considers himself unfit to hold office as a minister,surely he is unfit to continue as an MP or,indeed,stand in a byelection.Mr Rennie should expel him from the Liberal Democratic Party.
Alistair Carmichael has brought politics into further disrepute. He is an absolute disgrace to his profession and has proved beyond any doubt that he has no integrity whatsoever. He must now resign and allow his constituents to elect an honest MP with higher moral principles.
” we suspect this one won’t have gone away by Tuesday”
Aye, but will Carmichael have gone by Tuesday? He should!
Is there not some sort of law against this? Defamataion. Libel or even just wasting Police time? I really hope that someone in his constituency is moving for him to be recalled (assuming I’m right in thinking that is possible – & if it’s not it should be).
If none of these options/actions exist the wtf is to stop these people lying whenever they want?
BTW here is that other petition: link to change.org
i expect Fungal Carbuncle the sec of state for portsmouth most likely believed his london masters would protect him for his services rendered and devotion to his elitist betters, , how wrong, the foolish treacherous blundering oaf. EXPENDABLE JOCK
If Carmichael does not resign, it just sends out the message that UK politics is openly corrupt, and there is nothing you can do about it.
Sorry for the people losing their jobs,”The bank said that a total of 13 branches in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Paisley and Aberdeen would shut by 18 September.”…………………..who voted No to “save” those jobs on 18th September 2014. link to archive.is
Shocking display of unbridled arrogance from a senior politician. If Willie Rennie really wants the Libdems to be taken seriously he has to display clear and decisive leadership for the sake of his party.
I also expect Ming the Grandee to speak out, he is always keen to speak to the media.
Carmichael has discredited the reputation of MPs and the House of Commons and I expect the SNP MPs to get involved in disciplinary action.
Given the tiny majority he scraped by with is there any way that he can be forced to rerun the election for this constituency. If the electorate had been aware of these dirty tricks I’m sure that 450 of them might have changed their minds and voted SNP instead of for him
“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.” – Alistair Carmichael, Channel 4 News, 5 April 2015.
His letter published above, demonstrates that he deliberately broke diplomatic protocol while acting as Secretary of State for Scotland & that the statement he made to Channel 4 News was knowingly false.
From link to gov.uk …
Responsibilities
The main role of the Scottish Secretary is to promote and protect the devolution settlement. Other responsibilities include promoting partnership between the UK government and the Scottish government, and relations between the 2 Parliaments.
Carmichael’s behaviour was completely at odds with his responsibilities since it is impossible to conclude that publishing a false document to undermine the First Minister works in any capacity to promote a relationship between Holyrood & Westminster.
It’s time for Carmichael to hand back his gravy train ticket.
The Torygraph is on a hiding to nothing, trying to make out that there’s still something dodgy about the whole affair. Carmichael openly says he knew the contents of the memo were “not correct” when he agreed to break all protocol and send it off.
– What exactly is he saying was “not correct”?
– Is he saying he knew that the memo was incorrect even though the person who wrote it was said to be above suspicion? In which case, how?
– Is he saying that the memo was tampered with before it was sent to the Telegraph? If so, by whom?
I feel sorry for the many good people of Orkney and Shetland who are, for the moment, represented by such an odious individual.
Alistair Carmichael has a Facebook page…
Alistair Carmichael – MP for Orkney and Shetland
@ john ferguson (5.48pm).
I’ve a bone to pick with you, Mr.Ferguson, please refrain from comparing Sally Carbuncle to a Cuckoo.
I’ll have you know, a Cuckoo is quite intelligent, whereas…
🙂
___________
I shall repeat earlier calls on this thread:
“What did Mundell know?”
We demand answers and we demand both are thrown out of politics.
Time for the “honourable” MP to go…
I called it weeks ago. It was not rocket science that Carmichael was heavily involved in this whole shameful act. His position is totally untenable and if he honestly thinks he can do anything other than resign over this then he is not just corrupt but totally deluded as well. He would have gotten away with it too if it wasn’t for those pesky Frenchies! He must have leaked it assuming The French officials would have issued a no comment but they actually corroborated Nicola Sturgeon’s story killing it dead.
The powers that be had to have known of Carmichael’s involvement very early in this and yet they have sat on it for obvious reasons. How many votes might the fat oaf have lost had the public been made aware of the facts before the election? An absolute disgrace and if the MSM had shown as much interest in discovering who leaked the memo as they did in trying to use that FALSE information to discredit the FM then Carmichael would have been finished weeks ago. This is why sites like this are so important. The MSM is not doing its job.
Clear out your desk Carmichael you horrible excuse for an elected official. First Michelle Mone and now this. I never thought I would say this but I am getting sick and tired of all these big titties.
FairFerfochen says:
22 May, 2015 at 6:31 pm
“Is he taking the rap for someone else?”
Undoubtedly ,this is not the end of the matter there is a lot of milage in this methinks.
Alistair Carmichael – the human face of Unionism, neo-Liberalism, the Liberal Democratic Party and Westminster Government. I give you a toast – to corruption and hypocrisy, Alistair Carmichael.
Well my glass is full, ehm, Aldi Chardonnay actually, goes well with salmon and prawns with lemon and Baxters sea food sauce, on Milton’s Canadian crackers, lightly peppered, with some parsley and baby leaf salad and split red grapes. Haddock and chips, with peas, to follow.
C4 Carmichael news right now. ouch!
Orkney & Shetland : we know that 3 out of 8 of you are already willing to vote SNP.
Now declare independence — not from Scotland, but from Fingers Carmichael.
@Bornoptomist
“This is exactly the type of case where constituents should have the right of recall”
I think it is exactly the type of case where extension of the law of perjury (or something of another name but same effrect) to cover pronouncements made by elected representatives so that the police would have immediate powers of arrest and a judicial trial take place.
“People never lie so much as before an election, during a war, or after a hunt.”
? Otto von Bismarck
Sorry, interrupted during that last post and lops the train.
I think it is exactly the type of case where extension of the law of perjury (or something of another name but same effect) to cover pronouncements made by elected representatives be made, so that the police would have immediate powers of arrest and a judicial trial can take place.
Something like this should be in the governance section of any new Scottish constitution.
lost. It’s a bit pandemonium here just now.
Just tuned into the BBC News Channel, this is only the 3rd story! So a government minister abusing his position to smear an opponent then deliberately lying in an attempt to cover it up is behind an Ed Balls interview, Fucking disgrace.
I don’t think for one minute that he could have thought this up all by himself, he’s not that bright.
He needs to fess up as to who instructed him to carry out this mean and callous act against our First Minister and the French Consul and then resign.
Scottish Lib Dems at Holyrood 2016. RIP.
I think there’s someting fishy about his sudden aquisition of a conscience. Here’s a man with his snout buried deep in the Westminster trough who has nothing to lose and everything to gain by keeping his mouth shut. I’m wondering if he’s been ordered to fall on his sword because the Tories want a by-election to put one of their own in his seat…next to that huge oil field….to have their man on the spot, so to speak.
Another nail in the Union coffin. Same corpse on life support inside.
TV news (button pushing) all still focusing on whether the story was true. That is irrelevant, Carmichael purposely leaked info to damage the First Minister of Scotland!
Media implying the FM and the French Ambassador lied! Disgusting.
The idea that someone as savvy as Sturgeon could be so indiscreet, is utterly ridiculous, to my mind.
Fundilie Mundilie
I wonder how long it would take to get 811 signatories to a petition in Kirkwall to the effect:
“We the undersigned gave our vote to Mr Carmichael whilst labouring under the weight of his lies and misrepresentations and we now wish the election result to be put aside”.
And then send it to the electoral commission?
It seems to me, especially after watching the ‘unbiased’ Scottish news bulletins that efforts are still being made to have folk be leave that the actual minute was/is correct and that the fault lay in releasing it, no where have I heard anyone say that it is now accepted That Nicola did not say what she was alleged to have said and that the contents of the note were in fact a lie.
“Something lost in translation”, are we expected to beleave that these various high powered politicians, even the French, couldn’t speak English, in this day and age?
I assume since the SNP have the chairmanship of the Scottish Account Committee they will have pleasure in inviting Carmichael to give evidence on the unfortunate incident.
I forecast he resigns just before giving evidence.
desimond says:
22 May, 2015 at 6:07 pm
Sky News right now blindly continuing the spin that something is still rather dodgy regards Nicola comments…this one will run and run.
————
And BBC Reporting Scotland was insinuating the same, Magnusson and Tim Reid, the latter saying it came from a usually reliable source. They just cannot help themselves. Bitter and biased to the end, which is hopefully soon BBC Scotland, if you’re reading this. We hate you.
He shouldn’t be given the opportunity to resign.
He should be kicked out immediately.
No doubt, there are no rules that ‘allow’ this though.
‘Democracy’ eh?
There should be rock-solid laws which, if broken, would see filthy lying scumbag politicians such as Sally Carbuncle go directly to jail, no ifs, buts, or maybes, for a minimum of 5 years.
He deliberately played a big part in a Unionist conspiracy to wrongly discredit and blacken the name of our First Minister and deceive the Scottish electorate.
Not only that, this filthy turncoat seeked to wrongly implicate the ambassador of another country, a country to which we have quite strong political, historical and emotional ties.
London’s lapdog must be put out of its miserable lonely existence.
He is not fit to be holding ANY political position, he must go.
hmmm this man has a lot of questions to answer, can we drag him in front of the Scottish parliament for this?
I just know it will be business as usual for the onions,oh look big scary thing, it was the Russians or those isis lot bad people you know ,nothing to see here ,MSM off on another ass kissing exercise for the establishment with large quantities of SNP bad,another team GB white wash.
@Heather Sibbald
I do not think he has suddenly grown a conscience Heather. He has issued a statement because the official report is due out and he is caught bang to rights. He is going for damage limitation. The man is a disgrace. Carmichael has said that “he could and should” have stopped the memo being leaked. Could is the key word here as it means he knew about it before it was sent out to The Daily Telegraph contact.
CM says:
Time for the “honourable” MP to go…
Sorry CM I have to disagree with you here … there is NOTHING honourable about this pathetic excuse of an M.P.
Comments Please from all the Salmond haters:
Malcolm Bruce
Ming Campbell
Charles Kennedy
Jim Wallace
Willie Rennie
Tavish Scott
David Steel
We’re waiting !!!
Coward all …
Alistair Carmichael:quote tonight : “If I were still Secretary Of State For Scotland I would offer my Resignation”. What an absolute Arse. It should be a no brainer that he should go as an M.P. now. Of course look at the SPIN put on this story by the B.B.C. The M.S.M and their “REPORTERS” were all quick enough to go with the story at the time and have now been found out to be complicent in the attempt to undermine Nicola Sturgeon prior to the G.E. It is not the other political parties in Scotland that we are up against BUT in built “Unionism in all the Media” particularly the Main Television programmes of the B.B.C..
@ Jim Thomson
To be honest, I’m more concerned about the possibility that he’d put an apostrophe in ‘Yours’.
I’m just curious about the word that followed.
Kezia Who ??? Poor Sowel
HaHaHaHa
Aw this is magic stuff revel folks
Just told Company HR that while its true I told my users, colleagues and management a massive lie which caused chaos and indecision and ruined reputations, I didnt take that Wispa bar that was hanging freely in the vending machine so that should see my job safe eh?
Living in a former Lib/Dem constituency i was ankle deep in their lying leaflets during the election. The first time I came across the cheating and lying behaviour of Lib/Dems was when my family pointed out how Rennie lied and lied in Dunfermline.
The Better Together gang of Unionists can only win by fear,smear and fraud. Please Scotland kick them out before they destroy us completely.
Duncan Hothersall @dhothersall · 1h 1 hour ago
Not sure I get why folk are saying Carmichael should resign as an MP. He wronged the last government, not his constituents.
Our unionist court jester is a bit weird tonight, or weirder than usual. Labour Hame thinks lying to your voters during an election, then after winning your seat, telling them youre a corrupt liar is fine and dandy.
For not the first time, maybe we over estimate the intelligence of a lot of these guys.
Here is The Code of Conduct for Members of Parliament folks.
Of particular interest might be Section III. Duties of Members paragraph 7. 😉
link to publications.parliament.uk
Members should act on all occasions in accordance with the public trust placed in them. They should always behave with probity and integrity, including in their use of public resources.
Now you can call me ignorant and stupid … cause that’s what I am 😀 … (after all I am the village idiot and you don’t get this title by being bright and intelligent! 😀 ) I’m just wondering which part of paragraph 7 Carmichael has NOT broken. 😉
Lesley Ann, I agree Fluffy will have known, in fact I wonder whether this blame being put fully into Carmichael as disgraced former scottish secretary is as much about distancing fluffy from any connection with this event, as it is about truth. Remember how quickly Cameron assigned blame to the lib dems at the time, and did so with absolute certainty. That was a smear planned and executed with the knowledge of the PM, I seriously doubt they’d risk a diplomatic incident without his nod of approval
The DCT result is seriously fishy, Stranraer Free Press who were live tweeting from the count were tweeting that Emma was well ahead, and then all of a sudden she wasn’t. Despite Ashcroft polls showing her in the lead, despite canvassing suggesting she was doing very, very well, and then of course the dodgy as tweet from Ruth about the Annan polling station…
I think there’s more to this than just Carmichael being involved, he’s been chosen to take the blame but this is what we’re being told, then there’s lots we’re not being told. If it was just Carmichael involved you can be sure the aide would have taken the blame
A serious error of judgement and the two journalists and the Telegraph look like twits too.
However, why did this report take so long? If it had been published before the election the chances are that Alistair would have gone the way of all the other Lib Dems.
I am intrigued by the line that the details of that account are not correct. I would like to know who doctored the original. The Spad that is no longer with the Lib Dems I presume but did Alistair clear the doctoring?
Makes you wonder what other pish he made up in the three year referendum campaign.You don’t need told that we were conned out of our independence by shysters like him.
At the time that this memo was leaked, Nicola was making huge progress in persuading English & Welsh voters of the case for getting rid of austerity. This worried both Cameron & Milliband.
Cameron instructed Scotland Office to find something to smear her & halt her progress. This memo was the result.
If you look at his letter of apology, Carmichael admits the content was incorrect yet conveniently the official statement from govt omits that fact. They are trying to kill the story stone dead but we shouldn’t accept it.
It is not acceptable for MP’s or Ministers to lie. End of
Right, let’s keep the pressure on this trougher and get our first byelection of the new session.
Feeling angry enough to complain…is your dander all dandered?
Then write to standardscommissioner@parliament.uk
Liam Fox. The view from America O/T
link to caltonjock.com
Carmichael should resign immediately or perhaps his constituents can ask that he be recalled to Parliament and instructed to resign by the Party leader or be removed
So much for those sanctimonious middle class Lib Dems who voted for Labour to stop the nasty SNP and have they paid their police bill yet?
Duncan Bawbag is just a muppet for the sake of being a muppet.
The man’s been caught lying and has had to fess up but the responsibility lies with Prime Minister David Cameron after all Carmichael was representing him while having been appointed to that office by Prime Minister David Cameron
Yes I’m going to keep saying it, he was representing the British Government when we all caught him LYING
Orkney and Shetland folk your responsibility now as decent human beings is to do the right thing and call for this mans resignation he lied to you all to get your votes
and it’s not the first time, the rest of Scotland is confident you know right from wrong
And we won’t even say we told you so
State broadcaster still insisting there is something to the memo.
What a bunch ???
Times up BBC !!
We’ll it’s not a surprise to wings readers as we spotted it was the lying dipshit Carmichael almost immediately.
For that matter we also pointed out his Spad was in the frame for leaking it to the Torygraph. A so called ‘newspaper’ which can’t even be given away by newsagents these days. That’s not a joke BTW. I’ve seen newsagents trying to give away Torygraphs to punters and folk just don’t want it even for free.
It’s days are well and truly numbered.
Waiting in vain for Labour’s shadow Secretary of State Ian Murray to condemn his Better Together Lib Dem’s dirty tricks.
Lollysmum-yep, this memo lie came out at the perfect moment. What damage did if do UK wide as it was reported widely in England? Get the Tories back in? This alkie should resign but he won’t.
I believe it’s very safe to say if Carmichael had admitted what he had done before the election he would not be an MP at this time.
He is a liar of the highest order and a utter disgrace to the people of the Orkney & Shetland Isles to whom he is supposed to represent.
The actual fact he deliberately tried to besmirch the intergity and honesty of the First Minster of Scotland and knowingly lied to the citzens of this Nation about his major part in the whole scandal, is without compare.
Alistair Carmichael MP, you are not fit for the office to which you were elected, you have lied at the highest level while in a Ministerial position and against the highest elected official in Scotland.
You must RESIGN if you are to keep hold of any sense of honour as a citzen of this country.
Do not be a bigger fool than you already are by trying to drag it out, GO NOW.
Carmichael has been promised ermine if he takes the blame.
Two months in this one UKOK £1.4 million production
link to shetnews.co.uk
The SNP’s northern isles candidate Danus Skene, who Carmichael beat by just three per cent on 7 May, questioned why it had taken eight weeks to publish the outcome of the Cabinet Office inquiry into the leak.
‘Better at Lying Together’ – BLT right enough !
Humming the song
Three Craws Sat Upon a Wa’
Written with these 3 in mind 😉
Indigo says:
The DCT result is seriously fishy, Stranraer Free Press who were live tweeting from the count were tweeting that Emma was well ahead, and then all of a sudden she wasn’t. Despite Ashcroft polls showing her in the lead, despite canvassing suggesting she was doing very, very well, and then of course the dodgy as tweet from Ruth about the Annan polling station…
I agree Indigo for exactly the same reasons as you state.
We will never know how much, if any, affect that outrageous tweet from Davidson had on the electorate but the question is there and for me it raises more than a couple of questions about the behaviour of the Tories in DCT.
Carmichael has to resign as an MP for being responsible for a blatant attempt to smear the First Minister of Scotland in order to try and influence the outcome of the General Election, and then flatly denying it afterwards when challenged about his involvement.
Like anyone in public office Carmichael is in a position of trust as an MP, and he has breached that trust by lying over snd over again.
It was only when the inquiry exposed him that he decided to tell the truth about the matter.
This man is not fit to hold public office ever again and should be hounded until he does the right thing and resigns.
The carbunkle and the FM videos here.
Sturgeon putting on the pressure.
link to bbc.co.uk
Will the telegraph issue an apology tomorrow, will carbunkle resign, I think I have more chance of winning the lottery, will wait and see if it will be a good weekend
The media need to answer this. They say Nicola wanted Cameron to stay as PM. OK, that happened. He is the PM. And all the hacks are crowing that this means the SNP are powerless, feeble 56 and so on. It’s being presented as a disaster for the party.
So, we’re supposed to believe that Nicola admitted in private that her preferred outcome was something that would be a disaster for her party. And this is true and it’s somehow a scandal.
Are they even capable of logical consistency?
“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.”
That lie of Carmichael’s led to an enquiry that cost the taxpayers £1.5 million. Had he been honest from the start there would have been no need for an expensive enquiry.
He should be made to pay the money back.
I just wonder how James Cook feels at being the dupe of the establishment against our elected government?
It’s not just Carmichael who has culpability but those journalists who took the story as gospel to run with it.
The big man’s a pure beast for the Ferrero Rocher, byraway
Error of judgment my arse! It was a cold and calculated lie. It was not only an attempt to smear the first minister of our country during an election but it also implicated the French embassador. His admission of guilt, at this late stage, should not absolve him from paying the full price. What do the people of Orkney and Shetland think? Are they happy to have this liar continue to represent them for the next 5 years? Politicians wonder why they are held in such low esteem by the public. Well here is a perfect example. People like Carmichael need to be banished from politics for the good of democracy.
C’mon Shetland, time tae roll out the wickerman.
Well what do you know?
alistair carmichael is an anagram of
i’m liar rascal cheat i
Erm … Ooops! 😀
link to archive.is
Just watched BBC News channel interview with some tube ( political reporter Ha Ha ) from The Sunday Post ( Newspaper Ha Ha ) re Carmichael. According to tube reporter from Sunday Post you could say that Carmichael was ‘Honourable ‘( Ha Ha ) re taking responsibility.
Yeh , I am sure that’s how the people from his constituency feel about him now truth out ( NOT ! )
Then BBC news reporter ( Ha Ha ) said some stupid comment about will cybernats be after him. Yeh cause cybernats is the issue here ( Dah ! ). He lied. He will need to lie in his own shit if he doesn’t do ‘honourable’ thing and resign.Might get smelly in House of Commons if your unfortunate to be sitting next to him !
Pretty sure if had been SNP MP or MSP then tube reporter from Sunday Post would have been first to say that ‘Honourable’ thing to do would be for them to resign.
Also tube reporter from Sunday Post disputed cost of enquiry to tax payer being 1 million pound as Carmichael’s aide , according to tube reporter from Sunday Post, only had to say ‘yes ‘ he leaked memo. Well then how come result of enquiry did not come before election if so simple ? Answer that Tube reporter from Sunday Post !
Good choice BBC getting tube reporter from Sunday Post in to speak about this farce. The Biased Broadcasting Corporation strikes again and ensures tube reporter from Unionist newspaper gives biased opinion in favour of Liar !
Beam me up please, anybody or anything, if this arse Carmichael gets away with this and is backed up by more tubes.
Another Union Dividend says at 7.56pm
Waiting in vain for Labour’s shadow Secretary of State Ian Murray to condemn his Better Together Lib Dem’s dirty tricks.
You will be waiting a long time then-Murray was tweeting this afternoon supporting Carmichaels original claims. All unionists together so looks as though Better Together continues apace. No change there then!
Emma’s election agent confirms the SNP bundles were ahead of the Tory bundles at one point. But he says it’s just because it was too close to call and the way the count is set up it’s impossible for extra ballots to be snuck in. And it would throw the totals out if they were.
Th Conservatives really targeted that seat in a way the SNP couldn’t. I was constantly hearing about where Mundell had been seen in the final couple of weeks. I think the Ashcroft poll galvanised them. And got them some LibDem tactical votes.
If they could have pulled off some sort of fiddle, do you think Calum would have won? They’d probably rather have had Lamont than Paddington.
Apart from the Labour candidate lying in his leaflets to damage the SNP and help the Tories, it was probably the most honest campaign in Scotland.
@g4jeepers 8.18, you win the internet!
Why has this came out now? Simples , the Tories don’t need them anymore. Cover-up not necessary so let’s not waste credibility and burn a useless Libdum at the same time.
“I … wish to offer you my sincerest apologies for the embarrassment caused to you blah blah …”
Oi, hold it right there, Carmichael, ya pathetic fat git. Why would Nicola Sturgeon be embarrassed, when she knew you were making the whole thing up? If anyone should be embarrassed, it’s you. Your constituents should demand a by-election and turf you onto the dung heap, where you belong.
The fact that you disappeared from public view when the story hit the headlines was commentary enough on your guilt. Should we be surprised? Probably not. Your record on miscommunication during the referendum was a nauseating reminder of just how low you were prepared to go to serve your own self-interest.
The matter should be referred to the Crown Office for prosecution of Carmichael, his aide and the civil servant who allegedly wrote the report. Falsification of documents is an offence under the Electoral Act.
The Torygraph printed this malicious fabrication without any apparent attempt to verify it’s contents.
Which is a not only a primary principle of professional journalism but the most obvious defence mechanism against winding up in libel court.
A grovelling front page apology and a settlement with many zeroes in it should be on its way soon for our Nippy Sweetie FM.
It will look good on them.
Lollysmum wrote:
“Carmichael has been promised ermine if he takes the blame.”
Aye, Lord Carbuncle of Dung.
Morag @ 8.22 what you are saying is consistent with what Liam Fox said about their strategy, they deliberately targeted Lib dem voters, as the weaker partner of the coalition.
They were quite open about using the Labour led by the nose, by SNP, and said that played very well for them. Their private polling must have told them that, as we know from the poster campaign.
You were just really unlucky, and by a small margin. Little comfort, but be proud of all the hard work down there.
The mystery deepens. The investigation finds that it was something lost in translation ,probably by a fluent French speaker,though the First Minister and the French ambassador said the meeting was in English.What was to lose?
Sir Jeremy holds to this line.
Meanwhile,Carmichael admits to the authorisation of release of a document ,he claims not to have even seen,which had serious implications for an electoral rival.
This I suspect goes much deeper.The hand of the State ,especially the Civil Service is at work in this instance. Probably the Tories and Labour are also complicit.
It is like the referendum,where again the State was complicit in trying to discredit the SNP.They have done nothing but stiffen my resolve to oust them completely.
They are beyond description.
So Sec of State Carmicheal orders this investigation now costing £1.4 million, knowing all along it was him wot did it.
They look less like bare faced lying conmen and more like suffering mental illness.
Such a parcel o’ rogues in a nation.
Lesley Ann,and Indigo earlier, great posts and fully agree with your thoughts, Fluffy complicit in pushing through the Westminster smear plot and Carmichael now the fall guy.
Agree with @DougMcG. It was released after the GE in case the Cons needed the LDs to get a majority.
So he’s been dropped like a hot potato
We must have the biggest bunch of liars representing us(sic)
LA, 8.19,
The last paragraph of that is rather interesting,
“It is not sensible to talk about this work publicly, in advance. But as with work done prior to the Scottish referendum, we will disclose the details of such work at the appropriate time. ‘
steveasaneilean say @ 5:52 pm
This is an affront to democracy.
There is a petition on change.org – please sign it
A link would be super duper. 🙂
Making or publishing a false statement during an election is an “illegal practice”, URL below. Will we see someone’s collar being felt or, in the absence of that, could Ms Sturgeon start a civil action?
link to legislation.gov.uk
Let me get this straight. Mr Carmichael says he authorised the “leak” of a memo after discussing it, but still claims he had not seen it? Is that right? And he thinks that is an “error of judgement”?
And he considers that an apology and turning down some money which is nothing to do with it amounts to accepting full responsibility? Without mentioning his direct lies about when he was aware of it and how he came to be aware of it?
And he did all this after the inquiry, rather than coming clean at the start, before the election
And he thinks all of this is ok?
I think he probably wont resign. But the fact that he has a choice is scandalous in itself
BBC QT this Thursday is from Aberdeen. Carmichael question a must for the panel
The spineless conniving bastard shows himself to be another mendacious, seditious third-rate politician who hates the elected government so much he’s happy to concoct and publish lies even if it ruins his reputation.
Step up to the plate Sir Nicholas McPherson.
I have friends up in Orkney.
And before the GE they told me The Carbuncle would win his seat.
The main reason being that some of the population in Orkney still think they are voting for the late Joe Grimmond.(no disrespect to the Grimmond family)
So all Carbuncle had to do was rock up at the polling station and watch the electorate put the cross at LibDum.
Simples
What about the (unnamed) civil servant? Sir jeremy says usually “reliable”. How could he construct such a travesty in the first place? And no, “something lost in translation” doesn’t wash.
Carmichael is toast. But let’s see the memo.
@g4jeepers (8.18) –
🙂
Problem – if they tried to stick Carmichael in a Wicker Man the pig and goats and ducks etc would protest about devaluation of the ceremony.
Rmac says @6.09
“He will do an Eric Joyce and hang on for 5 years in the hope it will all be forgotten about or until he can find a safe berth to keep him in the style to which he has become accustomed after the electorate get their say in 5 years time.”
Not if we hound him out of office he wont, we need to make his life hell!
never mind the MSM this is the chance to prove the power of the internet, we can do this folks lets drive him out!
So… When’s the by-election?
I don’t see how Carmicheal can stay put given that he cheated the voters.
@ One_Scot
I think it is entirely his own choice. Depends on how thick his skin in so don’t hold your breath. He is the embodiment of the case for instant recall legislation
There are two words being used here quite a lot. Responsibility and accountability.
The difference between them is that who ever does the deed is “responsible” and who ever authorises it and has managerial control (or, in this case, should have managerial control) is the accountable person because they could have stopped it and didn’t.
We have two names in the frame here. The responsible person was one Euan Roddin, who pressed the send button and released the “memo” and Carmichael is the accountable one. In most industries those who are accountable get the boot.
Here’s a quote from the Shetland News website ( link to shetnews.co.uk )
… dammit the second para of that quote should be a comment by me and NOT part of the quote …. grrrr
email to Roger Mullin
“After today’s revelation that Alistair Carmichael admitted responsibility for the scurrilous and mean spirited attack on the first minister and described it as “these things happen in an election” has proven him self not worthy of the title “honorable” and as such his resignation should be demanded by the house forthwith!”
Change.org petition has just gone over 4,000.
If this continues he’ll be toast just in time for the Sundays.
link to change.org?
@john king
The Change.org link is here.
Please ask Mr Carmichael if he still supports the principle of MP recalls, and given what he has just admitted, whether he is prepared to shortcut the process and offer himself up to the judgement of his constituents
Here is the headline from the so-called Independent on this issue. These MSM unionist scumbags are determined to brazen it out:
“Nicola Sturgeon did want David Cameron to win the general election, report concludes”
link to shetlandtimes.co.uk
Another poll but in Shetland this time shows 96% Carmicheal should resign.
Carmichael is a liar and a fraudster. He admits as much and should go.
But the office of Secretary of State for Scotland is also redundant and superfluous. It costs approx £7.5 m a year.
It has to go.
Here’s one for ‘Wicker Man’ Carmichael –
The Trammps, ‘Disco Inferno’ –
link to youtube.com
I was never in any doubt that Carmichael was the culprit, (although probably not the instigator). What knowledge Mundell had is open to question, but may be more difficult to prove, as the Tories will have his back covered.
We can only hope that in his resignation speech, Carbuncle does a JoLa and spills the beans. Unfortunately I can’t see him doing the honourable thing.
On the other hand, if we can stitch up Murray, we can discredit all three onionists within a month of the election. Not going too badly so far.
Bob Mack @ 5.56
“He has to go,but by what route?”
eh!
link to youtube.com
And where are the unionist trolls to tell Scotland we are paranoid, and ‘there’s no such thing as political conspiracies?’
People of Shetland!
Alastair Carmichael is the “Guiser” Jarl. Gonnae burn his longship down?
[You’ve already burnt barrels full of tar and hunted down blubbery whales, so you’ve already got the basic idea.]
and then there were 2.
i live in hope, honour?!
or is it really as someone once said the truth is what you can get away with.
The Media attempting to play semantics regards this civil servant ‘ truthfully writing what they “thought” they heard’will only make people and Oor Nic more angry.
Which is good.
Is he going to repay the cost of the inquiry?
Tonight’s reporting Scotland the excerpt of Nicola didn’t include the bit where she called for AC to resign ….the journalist finished off by casting doubt over The F. M.’s version being the truth.
Whilst A.C.’s Note above includes
“And that the details of that count as not correct”
surely there’s a case here for sueing the BBC.
O/T Glasgow just beaten Ulster in the Pro 12 series Rugby to reach the Final. Well done Glasgow.
Hi, just had a long scroll down these comments.
So this is really the tag end as far as they will be read. But my two groats went for..
..checking Write-to-Them for a FibDem to say that I would be actively campaigning and canvassing against them for the rest of eternity or until they are erased from the political map which is more likely.
Amongst my councillors, MSPs, MP and MEP there is not one of them!
Only the unelected Lords remain as a point of pressure against the mendacious Fibbing Democrats through that path.
So its time to press against their last, mockery of democracy, redoubt – let’s push forward and call loudly for long overdue abolition of the House of Lords whilst we scrape the body politic’s heel of this dishonourable ordure.
Very confident prediction: we’ll hear no more about it.
It was Sturgeon that ordered the cabinet secretary to investigate but Carmichael should have confessed at the start and quit, if only to save so much and £1.4 million is a lot of money.
If he had any honour Carmichael would have quit when first questioned by the cabinet secretary but clearly he thought he’d got away with it from the start. Or there is a far greater UKOK conspiracy cooked up to monster Sturgeon and give unionists and all UKOK media the election weaponry.
The BBC are still using an extraordinary fraud on Scottish voters to attack Sturgeon and it makes no difference to those liars that the French Ambassador version exactly matches Sturgeons.
Our favourite nazi spotter agrees with the BBC
Ian Smart @ianssmart · 2h 2 hours ago
The leak was wrong but the Nats seem in full diversion mode over the other #frenchgate conclusion that the contents of the memo were true.
@Ian Brotherhood 8.52
No, that would be fine, the livestock would enjoy the night off.
Do you think BBC’s James Cook is regretting he did no research to check facts – remember, he said to Sturgeon’s face, “But I have seen the memo”.
I presume BBC has a battery of crew and reporters chasing Carmichael now, on their way to Orkney and Shetlands for some sharp-edged vox pop from voters registering their shock and detestation of events.
link to grousebeater.wordpress.com
Well who knew?
Conspiracy and collusion between the highest offices of government and our great UK meeja. Compromising the Scotland office, the civil service (again) and a major broadsheet in an attempt to smear the First Minister of Scotland.
Oh dear…oh dear…oh dear!
Are we better together yet?
I would expect calls for the Westminster Parliamentary Lib Dem group to remove the whip from the erstwhile colonial governor to be irresistible.
Alistair Carmichael was at the University of Aberdeen, where he was given a law degree – LLB – in 1992. He then qualified as a solicitor in 1993. From 1993 to 1996, he was a Procurator Fiscal Depute for Edinburgh and Aberdeen, and from 1996 to 2001 he was a solicitor with Aberdeen and Macduff.
Ergo he is also subject to the Law Society rules…
http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/support-services/advice/articles/solicitors–code-of-conduct-2011/#
If the bu66er doesn’t do the honourable thing and resign as an M.P. Mr Carmichael WILL probably find himself on the wrong end of a police inquiry into criminal allegations of OBTAINING PROPERTY BY DECEPTION.
This ex-Procurator Fiscal has, for example, prosecuted “mere” shoplifters for obtaining a few pounds of property dishonestly. They have then been sent to jail. What is the difference between petty crooks and larger crooks such as, by his own confession, Carmichael? So what penalty is due for fraudulently obtaining a £60,600 annual salary as an M.P., plus thousands of pounds worth of expenses by lying?
The he now has (by a wafer thin majority) as an M.P., is on the back of Carmichael confessing that he has lied in pursuit of that job.
If you are reading this Alistair, as a former Procurator Fiscal you will know what penalties that carries after conviction. Plus the other laws you have now admitted to having breached.
Good luck with extinguishing that fire in your lower extremety undergarments.
If he’s not thrown out of politics and his FibDem party by the end of May we should organise a massive protest outside Holyrood demanding that action is taken against ALL involved in this scandal.
And that includes getting lawyers onto the Torygraph to make an example of that scummy rag and send a warning to the rest of them that we’ll no longer tolerate lying Unionist filth.
Something more than just signing a petition has to take place.
Nicola needs to reject all apologies and call the lawyers in.
We need to send a serious warning that corruption will NEVER be tolerated in Scottish politics.
Time for Scotlands only labour MP to apoligise @IanMurrayMP #CarmichaelMustGo
link to pbs.twimg.com
It is very clear that there is no such thing as total Party allegiance when it comes to the SNP. They are a common enemy to all. Therefore it would serve the interest of all, and the State to make mischief wherever possible.We must look at the Civil Service very closely. Imagine this had been a meeting with Putin or similar,where things were misunderstood.
Such events create wars and conflict.The Civil Service MUST be complicit in this affair. It is inconceivable that they would record something they thought they had heard as being factual.
I cannot escape the admission by the Head of the Civil Service post referendum that his priority was to preserve the State. Try to discredit the SNP ?
I believe Nicola is playing a game of diplomacy in this case for public consumption,
but privately she must be fuming, just like myself.
Is there any mechanism by which the SNP group at Westminster can move a bill to impeach Carmichael and/or seek to reclaim from him personally the £1.4 million cost to the taxpayer of the totally unnecessary enquiry he set up into what he himself knew he had done, so he could kick things into the long grass until after he was safely re-elected?
When the poorest in the country are about to be kicked in the balls to save money because the country is allegedly broke, I take great exception to so much of OUR money being wasted to let this lying scumbag defraud the electoral system.
After all, £1.4 million would keep quite a few foodbanks going for a while.
Desimond @9.33
The media in reporting on what the official thought they heard give the impression that the official was in the room at the time of the meeting when in fact they were not.
The leaked memo published by the Telegraph was in fact based on a telephone conversation that took place between said official and the French Consul General ONE WEEK after the original meeting took place.
It has also been obvious in all of the reporting today how many journalists fail to mention that the French Ambassador and Consul both denied that Ms Sturgeon made those remarks and issued those denials within hours of the original story appearing in the Telegraph.
Anyone watching or reading today’s reports, and the reports at the time, would be left with the impression that Ms Sturgeon has denied making the remarks and nothing has been said by the Ambassador or Consul General. In this way the media hope to leave some mud sticking to Ms Sturgeon.
As to Mr Carmichael, what he has said vtoday boils down to: if ministers lie they resign but MPs lying is no great matter.
Time he went. But he wont .
I wonder if he’s sent explanatory letters to the ex leader of the Labour party who embarrassed himself in front of any and every camera available by attacking Nicola Sturgeon over this debacle. Oh and as for Ms Dugdale…. well dang!
Now although Koalamichael has accepted full responsibility, does anyone truly believe that the then SoSfS came up with this little scheme off his own bat?
Astonishing how a number of Unionist commentators and elements of the media have the brass neck to call the French ambassador to the United Kindom, a liar!
On another note isn’t it great seeing David Cameron representing Scotland at the EU summit, once again proving we’re Better Together. The horrible alternative would be ministers from a democratically elected government representing an independent Scotland, thank goodness that didn’t happen.
Have they actually published the inquiry report?
I ask because it seems some sections of the media are spinning it to support their position that Ms Sturgeonbdid make those remarks despite all of the irrefutable evidence to the contrary. Prime among those spinners is, of course, the Telegraph.
Since it cost us £1.4 million we should get to see it.
Hard to know which is the more serious crime, knowingly committing fraud while in a ministerial position for the UK government and conspiring to corrupt the election process, or, knowingly witholding the truth from the electorate of Orkney and Shetland.
Whichever it may be, Carmichael’s position as MP for Orkney and Shetland is untenable.
Michael Moore got booted out of the job because the power elite needed a spineless Secretary of State.
Carmichael got the job.
There was a time when a bounder like Carmichael would be locked in a hotel room with a pistol & one bullet. Knowing of his famed incompetence however and despite the bulk, the toad would probably miss. 🙂
Hello, is that Jim Murphy?
Yes.
Alistair Carmichael here Jim: I was wondering if I could spend a few nights sleeping on your sofa?
I was about to ask you the same thing Alistair.
He has abused his position as Secretary of State for Scotland for party political purposes. The abuse also damaged the integrity of the Civil Service and when he lied about it he tried to blame them.
Compounding this he targeted a political figure who was out with the electoral process for Westminster. His lies were an attempt to undermine not just the personage but the office of First Minister.
This goes way beyond normal ‘robust’ campaigning. He has breached his duty as a Cabinet Minister and also caused Civil Servants to be, or to appear to be, in breach of the Civil Service Code.
Lying knowingly and leaking confidential government information (as well as misrepresenting it) is an offence. There is no defence of public interest (it was a lie) and there is no defence that it part of campaign material – it was a leak to a newspaper AND Nicola Sturgeon was NOT standing in the election.
Alistair Carmichael MUST step down now to preserve the integrity of the office he held. He has already said that were he still Secretary of State he would resign. He should remember that Members of Parliament do not have a lesser standard of honesty and integrity, his constituents deserve an honest MP who campaigns on the issues and party policy without resorting to sleazy campaigns of lies that bring disrepute to Parliament.
He must stand down, another MP, of whatever party, should represent the constituency..
How many SNP members are there?
They need to sign this thing. Okay, petitions never achieve much on their own, but the response to them cannot be ignored.
Another 89 required to get this one over 5,000, and it’s only been going a few hours:
link to change.org?
Hercules – there is a stables awaiting in Orkney!
This government will not govern. It will simply do what it thinks it can get away with. It is clear that Carmichael thinks he can get away with this. As do his political masters.
Is Carmichael’s special adviser any relation to the Daily Mail’s rotwilier political reporter who hounded SNP candidate Neil Hay for days over a misported tweet taken out of context?
Apologies if I’ve missed something, but I’ve seen a lot of references to the inquiry costing £1.4 million. What is the source for this info?
Carmichael to resign petition now at over 5000 signatures. Let’s double that by tomorrow!
link to change.org
Allan Thomson,
“Can we now trust that every conviction achieved by this man as Procurator Fiscal depute for Edinburgh and Aberdeen is fair and just? If he behaved then as he does now – perhaps not”
Yet another proof that the Scottish justice system is rotten to the core.
And the vast majority of lawyers are the lowest of the low in society.
Carmichael, in another life, will find himself in a set of stocks in the village square, having lumps of raw turnip lobbed at his napper.
Goes around, comes around, ya great big tube.
Here you go…
link to gov.uk
I’ve not had a chance to read through all the comments yet so forgive me if this has been mentioned already..
Had he admitted at the start, he would have saved the taxpayer £1.4m. Wasting our money too…
Lesley-Anne,
“Sorry CM I have to disagree with you here … there is NOTHING honourable about this pathetic excuse of an M.P.”
Hope your b—-y cough doesn’t come back any time soon.
This is yet another example where the useless Press complaints body link to ipso.co.uk will not force the Daily Telegraph and other right wing propaganda sheets to correct their original falsehoods on the front pages with the same prominence as their original lies.
Just for all our exellent fellow readers here on Wings. 😉
A wee tweet from YES Orkney.
Silent protest outside St Magnus Cathedral tomorrow Sat 1pm in protest at actions of A Carmichael
What I want to know is how many votes a lie and smear campaign like this can cost a party or candidate across the country. Would the SNP have won in those last three seats without that dirty scheme.
What really gets me is this Unionist toady dirt bag got re-elected.
Morag,
“And got them some LibDem tactical votes.”
Not to forget those b—-y Patrick Harvey Green spoilsports votes.
Scotland would have been a unionist free zone.
Two of the unionists cheated their way through and the third was helped by an egoist “pro-independece party” leader with enough money for 29 lost deposits (out of 31).
If the Greens only contested 31 seats, why did they have to be spoilsports in the one Tory seat?
Are they the real “Tartan Tories”? Ken has been suggesting they get their money from rich land owners.
Paula Rose, “honey”, “dear”?
We are watching the British State at work, as a team; networking, collaborating, colluding, covering up, protecting. All of it outside the Law. Cameron and Crosby must be part of this attempt to damage Nicola. They are as guilty as Carmichael.
For two years Cameron and crew told us how much we meant to him. As Carmichael lied over Nikigate, so also did Cameron lie about the Referendum. It is vital that we know our enemy. Our enemy is the British State; the Establishment, which includes the Monarchy and Westminster and so much more.
We Scots are like the Aborigines – it’s such a pity we’re white. Otherwise, we’d be long gone.
The gov.uk press release says an interesting thing ….
“Mr Roddin …. told the investigation team that he acted in what he saw as the public interest and that in his view the public needed to be aware of the position attributed to the First Minister”
Clearly he believed the unlikely memo content. This is the bit which surprises me. That people are willing to believe that a highly professional lawyer and politician such as Nicola Sturgeon could possibly have been so indiscreet.
Some of the gutter press want to believe it, some want the public to believe it. However for Carmicheal and Roddin to actually believe it, that says a lot about their own judgement and common sense.
I’ve just emailed the standardscommissioner@parliament.uk about Carmichael.
He is not honourable and his behaviour is despicable.
He should not hold any public office.
@Grizzel McPuss (10.40) –
Cheers for that. In all the excitement, I hadn’t even viewed the document which caused all this stushie.
And that’s it?
How the fuck can it cost £1,400,000 to produce such embarrassingly skittery evasive shite?
The link is below, for those who may have missed it. Austerity? They really are having a fucking laugh. Before he packs his bags and heads off to Valhalla, Carmichael could at least leave behind a detailed breakdown of how that dosh was wasted.
link to gov.uk
@ Grizzle McPuss.
At the bottom of the Scotland Office page you linked, there is the question: “Is there anything wrong with this page?” I wrote a comment regarding facts and truthfulness being absent from its text. Perhaps, others might wish to follow suit and add their own scathing comments.
@ Rock
The SNP are no more entitled to anyone’s vote than any other party. I have no reason to question the sincerity of the Greens, and I think it would become you to focus on winning seats through argument and policy, as Morag has done with good grace.
It does nobody any favours to mimic the Labour attitude that people’s votes “belong” to them, nor to feel aggrieved if other people decide to contest elections.
Three words sum them up.
LIB LAB LIARS
Stoker,
“Nicola needs to reject all apologies and call the lawyers in.”
Lawyers can wriggle out of anything, while filling their trousers and skirts with hundreds of thousands of pounds of public funds.
1.4 million pounds has just been wasted while a UK government minister, himself a lawyer, was the culprit and kept quiet about it.
We cannot rely on the rotten to the core system to get rid of him. Eric Joyce managed to complete his term despite being convicted and thrown out of his party.
Only massive public pressure will do the job. And this is one job we must finish.
Immediate sanctions required…..send an invoice for £1.4m to Mr.W.Rennie for a payment to the Trussel Trust and implement a boycott of Highland Park until the procurator fiscal in Kirkwall prosecutes AC for all the charges laid out above…a pretty straight forward case with a written confession.
@ Ian Brotherhood
It cannot cost £1.4 million.
All of the people they interviewed (with the exception of Mr Roddin) work in government. They were interviewed by people in government. So these people were all at their work and were being paid as usual. No cost at all in real terms, and any cost attributed is the typical guess based on nothing real at all.
We really ought to reject this nonsense whenever it appears
Never mind ‘fire to the feet’ his ass is crackling !
Well just added my name to, no doubt ever growing list, of names of people who hae e-mailed complaints to the Standards Commissioner concedrning the actions of Carmichael … Oops! 😀
I have to admit my complaint was a wee bit long winded but there again I know readers on here would expect nothing less from me. 😛
Thanks Rock my *ahem* cough appears to be getting better … or maybe not! 😀
Deary me,
Representation of the People Act 1983
False statements as to candidates.
A person who, or any director of any body or association corporate which—
before or during an election,
for the purpose of affecting the return of any candidate at the election,
makes or publishes any false statement of fact in relation to the candidate’s personal character or conduct shall be guilty of an illegal practice, unless he can show that he had reasonable grounds for believing, and did believe, that statement to be true.
“Liberty’s in every blow”.
Do we imagine for one second that the Tories did not know the truth? What do the Tories have on Carmichael, to force him to do his bank holiday ‘mea culpa’ bit.
Either way, this is a very serious business. Here we have definitive proof, that a senior member of the UK Westminster Government cabinet, lead by David Cameron, deliberately tried to smear and damage the democratically elected First Minister of Scotland.
This goes way beyond Carmichael, but as a start he needs to resign as an MP. He is simply no longer fit for public office.
@Ian & Douglas
I’m finding it hard to get over the fact that this sheet of paper which represents the entire cabaret has cost £1.4m.
It’s an obscenity at a time of great struggle to so many.
Angry is too mild a description for how I’m feeling over this.
Pleased to say that Twitter has been on fire tonight with #frenchgate
For sure, Carmichael’s goose is now cooked.
Huh – now he’s rumbled he’s making out he acted on his own. I think it was a total Unionist affair – from the Tory Telegraph, Andy Burnahm saying the day before how Nicola wanted a Tory victory and the aftermath when they all jumped on the bandwagon.
And yet your average punter on the street didn’t believe it. Even if she did think it (which she didn’t) Nicola is too astute a politician to ever divulge such guff. It’s just not in her DNA. And those lying b@stards all knew that too. Shame on the lot of them. But at least indy is one step closer.
Having read the statement on the Scotland Office page, my feeling is that it does not pass the judicial standard of
‘the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth’.
The British State has failed to learn that you can’t fool all the people all the time. In the age of the internet and social media, that statement is becoming truer by the minute.
This was more than an attack on our FM. This was a deliberate ploy to undermine our Scottish Government and Scottish democracy.
I don’t think the SG can let this go. It needs to be made clear to Cameron as PM and Westminster (politicians and civil service) that the Scottish Government and electorate will not tolerate such dirty and underhand trickery and manipulation. If the SG does not take a stand on this then the deceptions to undermine it will continue. This is only the beginning. The SG needs to stamp on it now.
Fiona at 1113pm,
Well said. No party is ‘entitled’ to votes. People should vote green if that is what they wish to do.
Apart from being dishonest, slimey and underhand, is this not a criminal or at very least a civil offence?
Through lies carmichael tried to influence the election, not through rumour, innuendo or half truths, but 100% complete lies and fabrication.
This put The First Minister”s reputation at risk, civil servants jobs at risk and above all else influence the way Scottish people voted.
That Carmichael has admitted to lies and fabrication post election, shows him up to be what we all knew in the first place a complete coward. Now the people of Orkney and Shetland can see for themselves the calibre of person they have returned,
I bet Joe Grimmond is turning………..
In my view the people of Orkney and Shetland, plus Scotland should lobby to have carmichael”s election result over turned, if this is not possible have him removed through other means or petition ASAP.
Could our 56 soon be 57 ?
@ galamcennelath
Did he, though? I’m sure at the time there was a statement, seemingly part of the leaked memo (which I never read, so it might have been somewhere else), to the effect that its author (who now turns out to be Roddin) struggled to believe what he thought he had just heard.
Was not that the meaning of the “lost in translation” remark? Not that the words of the ambassador needed to be translated, but that his own conversation with the consul general had been affected by linguistic differences? I assumed this was “plausible deniability”, in case he got caught out too soon.
UK Cabinet smearing of FM is not front page news throughout UK press.
Not being discussed on SKY or BBC in press review
You couldn’t make this up.
Carmichael runs away to hide his shameful behavior and press leave him alone ???
(Did this happen or are we imagining this ??)
@Fiona
From Paul Flynn MP (Labour) member of the Public Administration Select Committee.
“Alistair Carmichael’s refusal to tell the truth for 6 weeks cost the taxpayer £1.4 million for Inquiry. Will he or LibDems reimburse us?”
Just Emailed to Alastair Carmichael. Headed ‘Resign!’
link to bbc.co.uk…/uk-scotland-scotland-politics…
Alistair Carmichael admits Nicola Sturgeon memo leak
Surely you will resign your seat having admitted your ‘dirty tricks’ Campaign.
You are a disgrace to your position, to politics, to your party, to your constituency and to your country.
If you have any remaining vestige of decency – Go now!
Barry J Haniford
I’m baffled by the £1.4m too. There will have been a cost. The people conducting this inquiry could have been doing other work so their time has value. It will not have been cheap given the grades involved but I think a decimal place or two has shifted somewhere along the line.
@ crazycat
Is that what happened?
I did not think Mr Roddin was the author: I thought it was a civil servant. I think Mr Roddin was a SPAD, but if I am right it is interesting that the memo does not address how he got it. We seem to have skipped a step
I do not think either Mr Roddin or Mr Carmichael believed it. That is because I do not think anyone who can tie their shoelaces could accept that at face value. I remember it did not even read as if he final paragraph belonged with the rest of the text.
Mr Roddin and Mr Carmichael believed that the voters would believe it, I think. And that is all they are interested in. Truth and integrity are nowhere. Trouble is that like many mainstream politicians they have not grasped how savvy the Scottish electorate are by now: for virtually nobody in the target audience swallowed it. That may have been helped by the statements from the French embassy, certainly, and they might not have anticipated that: but then smearing a diplomat is not without cost and you would think that they would have at least taken some steps to ascertain the truth of the matter by speaking to both the French consul general and to Ms Sturgeon. Oh….they couldn’t: because if they did they would have had to drop the attempt. And that would never do.
The independent and the telegraph are continuing to pretend there is substance to the main allegation: so they still haven’t got the idea that they are completely without credit amongst the electorate; unlike Ms Sturgeon
Arrogance beyond belief, and it is clear that the thing was orchestrated so that it was given legs by other lib dems and even by Mr Miliband. And yet it failed
Once again it merely shows they hold the electorate in contempt.
If I am wrong and they did believe it that is yet another instance of a hatred so blind that they are prepared to believe any bad thing said about their opposition and expect everyone else to believe it too; especially if it happens to look like confirmation of a story they made up themselves. Falling for your own propaganda does not come in purer form than that
But the fact that Mr Roddin and Mr Carmichael did not tell us this at once speaks to the fact it was always a lie, and not just the confirmation bias they appear to prefer as an explanation.
Either way Mr Carmichael has no business being an MP after this. He should know that
Grizzle McPuss says:
22 May, 2015 at 11:51 pm
@Fiona
From Paul Flynn MP (Labour) member of the Public Administration Select Committee.
“Alistair Carmichael’s refusal to tell the truth for 6 weeks cost the taxpayer £1.4 million for Inquiry. Will he or LibDems reimburse us?”
I have no doubt that is the claim, Grizzle McPuss. But I have no doubt at all that this is the same imaginary money which we hear about in the NHS pretendy market and elsewhere.
we can all say this or that, but it all boils down to the fact that he’s a lying bastard…..
Alistair Carmichael is to step down as an elder of the Church of Scotland. CoS will breath a sigh of relief.
Orcadians getting absolute pelters from Shetlanders. Up Hell Yeah!
The thing that strikes me most is that Mr Carmichael has stood by while the Government spent £ 1.4 million on investigating his leaking intervention in the Election campaign. Yet Carmichael seems to think that a slap on the wrist, which is what 3 months ministerial severance is, is an adequate accounting.
Aye. (sharp intake)
Fiona,
“I have no reason to question the sincerity of the Greens, and I think it would become you to focus on winning seats through argument and policy, as Morag has done with good grace.”
What is the sincerity of the Greens if they contested only 31 seats? Why didn’t they contest all of them?
If they are “pro independence”, why did they have to spoil the SNP’s chances of unseating Scotland’s only Tory MP?
Westminster elections are undemocratic and considering that our top aim is to gain independence, it makes no sense at all (except Patrick Harvey’s ego) for the Greens to lose 29 deposits out of 31, knowing that there was no chance at all of winning a single seat.
They should not have acted as spoilsports and should have saved their money for the 2016 Scottish election.
Luckily they mattered in only one seat, but they could have easily allowed the unionists to hold on to many others.
How can Green activists be cheering an SNP landslide here while at the same time defending the Greens’ policy of putting up candidates against the SNP?
The SNP works hard for every vote and doesn’t take a single one for granted. They are well pleased with 56 SNP MPs.
Is carmichael still registered as a Lawyer,if so complaints to the Scottish Bar Association,remember Alisteir Darling.
Jim Mitchell 7.18
galamcennalath 7.17
Harry McAye 7.19
Phone or write and make a formal complaint to the relevant TV station – never let it pass – Ofcom if not the BBC
Fiona – surely the target audience was not the Scottish public but the English public. And they fell for it.
Fear of the SNP was said to be one of the reasons for Labour’s failure. I did wonder at the time if Nicola’s admirable efforts to make herself known to the UK public were not actually fanning the flames of a diabolical plot. Use Scottish energy and Nicola’s rising profile, filter a few subversive stories into the mixture, light the blue touch paper, and sit back. How they must have laughed.
As I recall, the Guardian’s election tour of the UK ended with a very uneasy reporter, aware of how the anti-SNP issue was taking over in rural England.
What the establishment will do to retain power, and they’ll always have paid stooges on hand to take the rap.
This is worth a swatch – Carmichael, doing a gig with a sympathetic crew, middle of March, this year. It’s only had 34 views.
3.05 – 3.12 raises a wee smile…
link to youtube.com
Where is this figure for £1.4M coming from? This isn’t exactly the Saville Inquiry into Bloody Sunday.
Fiona,
“It cannot cost £1.4 million.
No cost at all in real terms, and any cost attributed is the typical guess based on nothing real at all.”
It is a cost in real terms. These people are on very high salaries. The time they wasted on this unnecessary enquiry should have been spent on productive work.
They would have been paid overtime to complete the work they should have been doing in the first place.
Every single enquiry in this rotten to the core system, which always is useless and lessons are never learnt, comes at a massive real cost. Lawyers make killings out of them.
Any recent news about the Chilcot enquiry? Any chance of it being published in Blair’s lifetime?
@ Rock
I cannot agree with your stance or your analysis
It is for the Greens to decide where they will stand, and that is their right. If a party should not field candidates where they have no chance, where would the SNP be now? They have not always been a particularly credible party: but they would not be now if they had not fought unwinnable seats in the wilderness years.
The term “spoilsports” is one you have now used twice: it is both childish and petulant and I dissociate myself from it. It reeks of entitlement as does your assertion that “our top aim is independence”. That is certainly your top aim, and the SNP’s top aim: it happens to be mine as well. But I am not sure it is the Green’s top aim, and if it is not I can see no reason why they should behave as if it is.
I really see no foundation for your complaint nor any basis for your anger.
6000 sigs by midnight now a strong possibility.
🙂
@ Marga
Perhaps. I cannot fathom the mind of a lib dem, much less a tory. But I honestly don’t see how the target of this particular effort could have been the english electorate. They had no vote for the SNP. Their fear, such as it was, was supposedly based on an alliance with labour and the left wing dictatorship they would impose: so suggesting they were plotting a tory government could not be on the same agenda, could it?
As I see it the aim of this was to undermine Ms Sturgeon’s reputation for straight dealing; and that could only be directed at the Scottish electorate. I could be wrong, though. I just don’t see how this helped the particular lies which were certainly directed at fanning english distaste for the SNP “invasion”
sleepy heid, 01.00 am, i mean.
The unnamed civil servants are experts at this sort of thing.
They make sure they never get the blame themselves.
Remember Sir Humphrey from “Yes Minister”?
The head of the UK civil service has already admitted that he acted illegally during the Scottish referendum.
These people can break the law with impunity.
Just like they have been breaking every part of the Treaty of Union for over 300 years.
@ Rock
I was not aware that lawyers were involved: I understood it to be an internal inquiry. What is your source?
If it is an internal inquiry there is no real cost at all: no money changes hands. The people are at their work and it is part of their job. Senior civil servants don’t get overtime payments, and I see no reason why there would be overtime in any case. There was no deadline on production of this “report” so far as I am aware.
P.S. to my last comment –
please check the very end of the clip, where the ‘director’ asks Fozzy to do ‘the walk of shame’. He instantly understands what the term means, and happily complies…interesting wee insight as to how this shite is produced, and how comfortable the players are about doing it.
🙂
“There is NO evidence of any political motivation or ‘dirty tricks’.”
I wonder what this crack team of investigators would consider was actually evidence of political motivation or ‘dirty tricks’?
It sounds like they got the team from Police Squad in. It would be hilarious if it was not so serious an issue.
“the public needed to be aware of the position attributed to the First Minister.”
Eh? What position would that be? And attributed by whom?
We need to keep the heat on fatty Carmichael and not let this story allow to die like the Lib Dems.
So it wisnae a fingerin’, it was a Roddin.
I’ll get my coat, in a minute…
Doesn’t £1.4m buy the taxpayer the name of the reliable source ?
Why was the memo written, and who were it’s target audience ?
Sir Jeremy wouldn’t offer it up, maybe a FoI request ?
In order to smear, you need dirty materiel. Easy, make your own.
We know that Whitehall is actively working against us. Macpherson said so.
One cynical exercise from start to finish.
Original memo leaked on Friday before Easter holiday weekend
Enquiry report released on Friday afternoon before Bank Holiday weekend
The IDIOT HAS GOT TO GO!!
Fiona,
“But I am not sure it is the Green’s top aim, and if it is not I can see no reason why they should behave as if it is.”
No it isn’t, so SNP supporters must not take any risks by giving the Greens their list vote in the 2016 Scottish election.
Only the SNP can bring us independence sooner rather than later.
How can Green activists be cheering an SNP Westminster landslide on this site while at the same time defending the Greens’ right to stand candidates against the SNP?
You can’t have it both ways.
I see Rock’s got PMT again.
In Japan , if you had disgraced yourself or your country your moral duty was to commit `Seppuku`(Hari-Kari) which was to` die with honour`by your own hand.
In Rome, if you disgraced yourself or your country your moral duty was to `fall on your sword`and save your family/friends further embarrassment.
In Colonial UK/England if you disgraced yourself or country you were expected to do the `honourable thing`whilst being being left in a room with a loaded pistol.
The only Kudos Carmichael could get out of this is if he resigns his seat ASAP and then in front of the assembled House of Commons beg forgiveness for bringing the House into disrepute while on his knees.
This has actually got me angry. Surely this lying piece of xysh has broken the Official Secrets Act or is guilty of fraud.
He is already guilty of being a trougher but that cannot be allowed to excuse his behavior as it’s simply wrong on every level.
People should be free to vote for whoever they want. Rock’s sense of entitlement is even more obnoxious than Scottish Labour’s – at least they didn’t accuse anyone who dares to vote against them of being outright ("Tractor" - Ed)s.
Craig Murray seems keen to associate the security serves with frenchgate.
The ‘lost in translation’ comment has people puzzled, though perhaps this comment in The Guardian helps explain it.
“Rank Bajin 3h ago
It seems NS had a conversation with the French ambassador which was reported inaccurately over the phone, by the Consul general who wasn’t present, to a friend.
This conversation was being secretly recorded by someone in London who mistranslated it.
Telegraph then ‘biged’ this up and David Cameron used it the next day to damage his opponents.
Oh what a angled web we weave.”
Who in London might have been secretly recording a conversation between the French Consul General and a friend? There appears more to this than has to date come out.
Fiona,
“The people are at their work and it is part of their job.”
No, it is not part of their job to find out which Minister has been lying and their time was wasted doing unnecessary things.
And this wasted time was not free – it was paid by taxpayers money.
You seem to believe that time wasted in a job has no cost. Companies even try to minimise the time their staff “waste” by having to go to the toilet.
@ Scot Finlayson
The only Kudos Carmichael could get out of this is if he resigns his seat ASAP and then in front of the assembled House of Commons beg forgiveness for keeping the House in disrepute while on his knees.
Fixed that for you 🙂
Have just sent emails to Carmichael, constituency office Orkney, con office Shetland, and the Commissioner for Standards.
Naturally they are all ‘off’ until the 26th, and hopefully by that time he will be gone!!??
It has made me feel better just writing to them, though.
@Rock
If it is not part of their job, then whose job is it?
Most of government accounting is made up. No money changes hands at all: it is just part of pretending that everything is like a business selling medium sized dry goods, and everything is a “profit centre”. But even private businesses have costs of doing business, and investigating wrong doing is one of them.
As to your last paragraph: yes some do. It is utterly disgusting that they do. Fortunately decent companies do not degrade their workers in that way.
I think it is only right and proper that there be a full breakdown of the costs of this investigation. Everything laid out for people to see. That I think would be in the public interest.
There is of course another way of looking at this in Carmichael misusing the office of Secretary of State for Scotland to undermine the Scottish Government in the person of Nicola Sturgeon. There may well be a lot of mileage in the SNP calling for the abolition of the post in the wake of this smear and costly enquiry, giving Fluffy less to do.
Watching BBC Scotland over the last couple of years has been a sore point. I really wish they would drop the Scotland. They do not report anything that represents the truth regarding Scotland. YES45 growing rapidly by the day.
This MAN lied to his constituents, lied to the Country, Embarrassed Scotland & France… THEN ALLOWED OVER A MILLION POUND to be spent on an enquiry, to find who leaked fake story… When ALL THE TIME HE KNEW IT WAS HIM… People are using food banks… and HE allows OVER 1 Million pounds to be wasted….. RESIGN NOW!!!!!
@ Fiona at 11.56
Sorry for the delay in replying to you – part of that time was spent reminding myself of what happened and I did indeed leave out a layer! A reminder that I should always check.
I had forgotten that the consul general was speaking to a civil servant whose slightly incredulous report was then leaked by the SpAd, who had himself not spoken to the CG, making the Telegraph’s report fourth or fifth hand depending on whether the CG was present at the meeting; I think he was.
So I think it’s pretty unlikely that anyone actually believed that the conversation had been as reported, except possibly the Telegraph and people who leapt on their “revelations” – ie lots of Labour MPs, MSPs and activists, amongst others.
Interesting that the outcome of the enquiry into Carmichael’s behaviour was released AFTER the Election.
He should resign now and an enquiry should be carried out in relation to Ruth Davidson’s manipulative behaviour regarding tweeting about bullying types of people hanging about the polling station. The Council and Police categorically denied her allegations. If I were the Police I would want to know where she got this information from? She no doubt ‘skewed’ the vote there too. And hey has anyone heard a dickie bird about her prior knowledge of the Referendum postal votes? When are we going to be informed about that?
And then someone should look into the carry-on in Edinburgh with Labours ‘one and only’.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have 59 MPs at Westminster rather than 56?
Theme for Carmichael:
link to youtube.com
“I Resign” by Robert Calvert (Hawkwind) – 28 seconds.
Send for Skippy! McConnell’s down a well.
This was discussed earlier this afternoon, Deputy Dugdale (taking the part of Skippy) and the labour party down the well, prophetic
Funny old world init!
———————————————————–
A former Scottish first minister has fallen down a drain while walking in the dark in Malawi. Lord McConnell was in the African country to discuss the importance of electricity at the time.
He tweeted: “Spent the evening discussing the importance of better electricity for #Malawi. Walked out to the dark street and fell down a drain. #Ouch”.
Jack McConnell served as first minister between 2001 and 2007.
He signed a co-operation agreement between Scotland and Malawi in 2005, and continues to be a regular visitor to the east African country.
It appears the Labour peer escaped injury after his stumble – but his admission sparked a flurry of responses on social media.
————————————————————-
Glad to hear he came to no harm 🙂
Woke up can’t sleep… Carmichael not resigned yet?
I just wonder if the reason the memo was recorded accurately is because the civil servant wrote it exactly the way it was dictated to hime by Carbuncle ? Just asking…
1.4 million quid,eh.Think of the difference that could have made to so many lives.
The most amazing part of this, is the final part where the Cabinet Secretary says “there is no evidence this was part of a dirty tricks campaign” Just how much is he paid for being a twat? Then again, cam be sure now the Sir before his name will soon be a Lord. Oh, and Mr Cook, where is your apology for gleefully running with such a lie?
The translation aspect seems like a huge diversion to give cover to a lie intended to do political damage to NS
The french ambassador has excellent English his number 2 who was interviewed on the doorstep had immaculate English and a good grasp of its nuances.
It was a lie from start to finish.
“Translation” was the cover in case they had to back off.
Unfortunately these things happen in campaigns”
Yes Mr Carmichael because you orchestrated it
gordoz says @11.41
“(Did this happen or are we imagining this ??)”
Go back to sleep, of course you imagined it!
For one thing, what country in the world would make up stories about something a person said to the ambassador of a “friendly” nation? besides who could in any way imagine that Cameron would have been Sturgeons preference, to what end?
No no of course its not, real you dreamt it, didnt you? 🙁
Ghillie @ 12.10
“Orcadians getting absolute pelters from Shetlanders. Up Hell Yeah!”
UP HELL YA, is that how the “settlers” say it?
dae ye get many Chelsea tractors in Twatt?
How low can they go. Just despicable. Carmichael’s revenge against Nicola for beating him in debate. Another criminal.
The Greens are lying, money wasters who back up Unionists, against the public insterest and the majority’s wishes. They get 600 votes (to stop an essential road) and then enable and collude Labour/Unionists to destroy the City centre refusing a Gift of £80Million to pedestrianise the City, but spending £30Million doing up an Art Gallery totally mon mandated and against the majority wishes and the public interest.
A handful Greens campaigned against the Trump Development and cheated and lied at every turn snd wasted £Millions on a public Inquiry. Then complained when £2Million was cut from the Education budget (because of their actions) The Greens collude with landowners and are (secretly) funded by them to stop essential roads. The Greens are despicable liars who campaign against public interest, and the majority wishes (non mandated). Enabling Unionists to waste £Millions of public money and get the City into £Million of debt. Building carbuncles and creating further traffic chaos. The public are taking to the streets to protest. The Greenscwadtev£Million of public money on cycle tracks, no one uses.
Covertly joining Unionist Parties to get into power and (secretly) work against the public interest. Campaigning against expanding the Airport. Maliciously, shutting it at one point causing major disruption to other people’s lives. Anywhere but Heathrow. The Greens are liars who waste £Million of public money against the majority wishes and against the public interest.
here is that other petition: link to change.org
Espionage or subterfuge. Both fit.
Should we look deeper into this? Just consider, the new secretary of state for Scotland, is Tory schoolboy Mundell, but at the time of the leak, unless I am mistaken, he was Carmichael’s deputy, working within his office.
Who is being protected? Has Carmichael been promised a peerage, for falling on his sword, to protect Mundell?
I find it hard to believe that this leak happened, and Mundell (and the Tory Government) didn’t know, or wasn’t complicit. Some ground for this to travel yet, I think.
It is just unbelievable. How low can these cretins go. Just go.
I recall Willie Rennie being wheeled out for media comment at the time of this incident. His appearance cast suspicion in Carmichaels direction. Was Mr Rennie in on the secret?? If so his position is in question. We need to know.
Wee Ginger Dug saying it as he sees it over on his blog! 🙂
So what have we learned from this? Anything that attempts to tarnish the democratically elected SNP is “in the public interest”. Clearly not the public interest of Scotland so “in the public interest” is the neutral civil service code for “establishment interest”. This view is fully supported by the lib/dems via their only elected MP in Scotland.
Ok if them’s the rules then every prospective Lib/dem councillor, MP, MSP and MEP needs to be reminded, ad nauseum, that if Carmichael’s lying behaviour is representative of the liberal and “democratic” party then we want nothing to do with them and they can whistle for our vote until he is booted out. Every one of you will be punished for Carmichael’s arrogance. Are you listening Willie Rennie? May 2016, status quo or wipeout, your choice Wullie.
BBC Radio 4 treating this story to its traditional “ignoral”. All possible trivia ushered into “news” programmes in preference to covering Carmichael’s deceit. We know what their priorities were, pre-election, when they were pretending the FM was in the frame. We know there would be wall-to-wall coverage if an SNP MP had so much as received a parking fine.
No apologies. No balance. Same old, same old.
This ‘holiday weekend’ announcement reminds me of the Labour attempt at “A good day to bury bad news”, OK 9/11 was a more substantial reason than a Bank Holiday, but……
I can only hope, and assume, that the 56 will hound this Carmichael liar at every opportunity at Westminster, and likewise Nicola will hold Wee Wullie and Deputy Dawg to account at every opportunity (and there should be plenty of those!!).
There should also be questions to Mundell, the former deputy to Carmichael, he must be in the chain somewhere!!
Hi john king @ 5.59am
gillie and Ghillie are two different people =)
The recall bill received royal assent in March this year.
Perhaps some legal-eagle among us can comment?
My reading is: 21 day suspension from House of commons (possible?) or being sentenced to a prison term (unlikely) triggers possibility of ‘Recall Petition’
10% of eligible voters signing it triggers a recall and a by-election
link to services.parliament.uk
I ask you all – does Michael Carmichael look concerned? Is there a hint of remorse and regret in his eye? His smug expession and flippant behaviour surely indicate that he believes he has gotten away with it. he has stuck two fingers at the people of Scotland, he has managed to fool enough of the people of Orkney and Shetland to vote for him one last time, and behind the smile? Yep, five more years at the trough (or so he thinks) and there is not one thing the little people can do about it.
if there is justice in the world, the good people of the Northern Isles will have Mr Carmichael hounded out, tarred and feathered, and cast adrift in a long boat.
As for the Lib Dems? Was it not Willie Rennie who played a big, loud part in hounding an SNP MSP out of office. Circumstances different, yes, but the principle remains the same – bad characters have no place in government.
I wait to hear Willie Rennie’s calls fo Carmichael to resign.
How can Mr Rennie call for AC to resign? He was in this up to his neck
This “man” deserves to be hounded from office as he will obviously try to hang on.
At every opportunity he needs to be shunned and shamed until he realises that his offences against the office and person of th First Minister of Scotland have made his position completely untenable.
As for Mundell,he should resign as well, having collective cabinet responsibility with Carmichael means he is equally culpable.
EXCLUSIVE
Nicila funcies Davie!
Nicila funcies Davie!
Heard it in the playgrun so mus be troo (jay couk)
OT .. From Politics Home
“A secret task force has been set up by the Bank Of England to research the economic shock England would experience if it chose to leave the EU”
At least they understand it would only be ENGLAND which will be leaving! 😉
link to archive.is
The issue of the costs for this inquiry being in the order of 1.4m is another thing all together.How do you run up such costs and why did it take so long it was’nt exactly complicated?Its therefore no great surprise that money trickles up the way and little is left over for those at the bottom.
This incident encapsulates so many things that are wrong in the UK we have to be rid of as soon as possible.
It would be good to see a breakdown of what 1.4 million could buy. You know such as :- 1.4 million could heat oap’s houses over the winter who struggle to heat there homes. 1.4 million could provide new reading materials for all pre school kids. That sorta thing. Just to put into perspective how much money this fat lying turd has wasted.
@ Ian
Still haven’t seen any evidence of any money being spent at all.
What the inquiry report does not make clear is that the leaked memo resulted from a telephone conversation between the French Consul General and an unnamed civil servant a week after the meeting between the FM, the French Ambassador and the French Consul General.
The Telegraph published the leaked memo which showed that it was a report of a telephone conversation held the week following the original meeting. The official inquiry report does not make this clear.
link to telegraph.co.uk
Apologies for not archiving this but cannot do it on my tablet.
‘Lost in translation’ does not apply. The French Consul speaks English very well. We have to assume that the Civil Servant also speaks English.
Let’s tar a feather this fat fucker
Carmichael is a thief, he stole a Westminster seat from a decent person.
Looks like he’s going to try and fill his pockets with his 5 year Gravy Train ticket before being forced off.
What an absolute disgrace of a human being.
I would like to know how Mr Roddin got it in the first place. He has no official position, has he? Is that not the first “leak” and I don’t see it addressed
The tories must protect their majik 10.
How far will they go?
There’s as much chance of me farting on Mars than any charges being levelled at any Tory in this parliment for anything from shoplifting to murder.
Memogate broke on a Friday night but there was also huge coverage of it the following day. Funny how today there’s barely a mention of Carmichael’s lies on the BBC or Sky.
There’s just a line about Carmichael not being disciplined by the LibDems for “leaking the memo”, no mention that he had previously denied knowing anything about it.
And there still going with the line that “the memo said NS would prefer Cameron as PM” without any disclaimer about it being bullshit.
The unknown civil servant who wrote the report based on a phone call said …
“I have to admit that I’m not sure that the FM’s tongue would be quite so loose on that kind of thing in a meeting like that, so it might well be a case of something being lost in translation.”
… He had the wit to realise NS is far too professional to have been so indiscrete. Surely this warning, plus common sense, should have stopped the unlikely part of the report being taken too seriously?
After release…
NS says it wasn’t said.
The French ambassador says it wasn’t said.
The French Consul says it wasn’t said.
And, the 4th hand account by the author of the report says it seems unlikely to have been said.
Clearly the political benefits of release were seen to override everything else.
I am old enough to remember the “Profumo Affair” – Christine Keeler, Mandy Rice-Davies, Russian spies, wild parties at Cleveden and so-on.
John Profumo didn’t have to resign and leave parliament because he was sharing Ms Keeler with a Russian spy, or because he was cavorting naked in the Cleveden swimming pool. He had to resign because he lied to parliament.
Carmichael has not lied to parliament. He lied, while he was an ex-MP, standing for re-election. Yes, he was still Secretary of State for Scotland, because, the outgoing cabinet held onto their portfolios until after the election.
He has since relinquished the post of SoSfS, so, he cannot be forced to resign from that. (Altough, to be fair to him, he has confirmed, had he still held that office, he would resign).
He was not an MP when he lied, so, there is no way he can be forced out for lying to parliament.
If he is brazen enough, he can ride-out this storm.
The pressure ought to be exerted on the Liberal-Democrats, to remove the party whip from this proven liar, whose continued presence in their ranks embarrasses that party.
As was seen at the ceremonies to re-elect Mr Speaker, Carmichael is the senior returning Lib-Dem, now that Nick Clegg has stood down as leader. Until a new leader is elected by the party, he will be their main man in the chamber.
Now, given so-many Liberals (in the days when it was a separate party) survived scandals – Lloyd-George and Jeremy Thorpe to name but two, there is little chance they will drop him, without a major blitz on that party.
The chances are, he will survive, but, it should be made clear, at every opportunity – this man is a proven liar. In time, enough mud will stick and he will go, but, I see no easy or speedy way of getting rid of him, provided his brass neck does not corrode and his head fall off.
That’s politics UK-style folks.
Nice timing of the announcement.
Friday – No Daily Politics. No Scotland 2015, No Scotland Tonight.
Holiday Weekend – Abbreviated News Bulletins, No Sunday Politics.No Daily Politics, Scotland 2015 or Scotland Tonight on Monday.
So we are left waiting till Tuesday for any real TV political coverage.
If we let Carmichael get away with this, then we will have failed our children.
BBC Scotland at the time of posting.
Panel members defending Carmichael and attacking Salmond and Sturgeon.
Who woulda thunk?
I agree with previous posters that Carmichael should be tarred and feathered if he does not do the honourable thing and resign forthwith.
He should also be cast adrift in a longboat that has been set alight.
Hopefully his agonies would be ended by Faroe islanders mistaking him for barbecued whalemeat.
And finish with a go at Angela Constance !
The talking heads on Shereen, BBC Radio Scotland this morning(inc Graham Spiers)spinning the story to their hearts’ content.
Nice little aside that Nicola Sturgeon “can’t remember” what was said. What is it with these people. The French Ambassador and the Consul General said the remark was not made within a couple of hours of the story, NS categorically said it was not made. Carmichael has admitted his part and there is a plethora of information out there now with plenty of detail about how this story was delivered to The Telegraph.
Why is it that the general public make better journalists/investigators than those paid by MSM?
The story should be about a Minister of State, still an MP, who deliberately allowed an official memo to be leaked to a newspaper. Never mind that he did not check or knew whether or not it was accurate, it was a deliberate attempt during an election campaign to besmirch the leader of a party and therefore and attempt to manipulate the vote. This action then involved officials of a foreign government, incredibly embarrassing and very undiplomatic.
Try doing any of this sort of stuff in your workplace; out on your ear afterwards!
Interestingly, the Shetland Times has a poll on their site, asking readers “Should Alistair Carmichael resign as Northern Isles MP?”
link to shetlandtimes.co.uk
With 5800 plus votes, it’s currently running at 95% saying yes.
Obviously, one has to wonder how many of those are actual islanders, but if the overall result is representative of their views on the matter, then it is only a matter of time before Carmichael has to come out with the old “I resign because this is preventing me doing my work” line, which is a cheap way out of saying “I resign because I am a liar and a cheat”, but achieves the same thing.
Who’d have thought that the first real test of the SNP 56 would be;
(A) To get rid of Carmichael – as a lying ‘in-post’ SoS for Scotland.
(B) To question the almost certain collusion of his ‘in-post’ Deputy SoS for Scotland and now current SoS, Mundell.
(C) To expose the positive engagement of the UK Civil Service in the smear against the FM.
(D) To question the cost of £1.4m and the need for such an inquiry, to condemn the now identified and since admitted perpetrators.
(E) To question why Sir Jeremy Heywood as head honcho of the Civil Service has couched the conclusions of the inquiry in such terms that attempt to deflect damage to the perpetrators.
(F) To criticise why the Civil Service failed to protect the First Minister against such smearing.
Finally and typically so true to form; what is to be done about Willie Rennie as leader of the Lib-Dems in Scotland, who has just declared that no action will be taken against Carmichael in light of these findings. Which is quite illogical and totally inexplicable.
We all know the man Rennie is no more than a joke – but such weighty matters should be by-passing his tiny wee desk and dealt with by an appropriate authority.
Isn’t Carmichael ‘ s action in releasing this memo a breach of the Official Secrets Act of 1989 ?
Doesn’t this call for prosecution for all concerned ?
galamcennalath: At least they understand only ENGLAND will be leaving the EU!
Another one for my list – many thanks!
link to grousebeater.wordpress.com
one wonders just how much the Labour party knew about all this ,did they actively involve themselves in this and why considering they were the ones that lost the most, as it was Ed`s ability to be PM that is the real story here not Nicola wanting Cameron to be PM.
everybody is missing the last bit of the so called leaked memo that she thought Ed was not PM material,this was the real message they wanted planted in the minds of the English electorate and it worked.
As dirty tricks go its true victim was Ed and the labour party ,it was never going to change our resolve if anything it boosted it ,as an attack on our First Minister is an attack on all off us.
Carmichael is just a big silly patsy ,set up by the tories like the entire lib dem party was and now that they dont need him they have dropped him right in it.
Still think you are better together Labour hmmmm?, you idiots dunce caps all round for you lot, didnt any of your mothers and fathers or grandparents who all voted Labour tell you to never trust a Tory?
Anent Rock getting pelters for his lack of enthusiasm for The Greens self-indulgent election posture, the Socialists can share in the landslide celebrations as they loaned their votes to the SNP at this crucial time. The Greens did not and stood against SNP candidates.
With friends like them you don’t need enemies, there are folk here who are trying to ride two horses at onc and it doesn’t work. He who is not for you is against you. It’s very simple.
Signed petition, standing at 8,358 now.
Fred,
“With friends like them you don’t need enemies, there are folk here who are trying to ride two horses at onc and it doesn’t work. He who is not for you is against you. It’s very simple.”
Well said.
The Greens must not be allowed to con SNP and independence supporters into giving them their list votes in 2016.
By standing candidates against the SNP in 2015, and letting Tory Mundell win, they lost any goodwill they had.
I think Ken is right about the Greens being hypocrites funded by rich landowners to oppose needed development.
I suggest again, that Mundell needs to go under the spotlight, the SNP would be best to do it through ” Scottish Questions”. He must have known what Carmichael was up to, therefore he would be complicit.