An alert reader today drew our attention to a detail we’d missed in a recent article in the Shetland News. It concerned Alistair Carmichael’s leaking of a false memo in order to smear Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP while the Orkney & Shetland MP was still Secretary of State for Scotland, and took the form of a quote from Carmichael’s Holyrood counterpart Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland:
Most of today’s papers quote an unnamed Scotland Office spokesman on the subject of the Scotland Bill 2015, and in particular its clauses concerning welfare powers:
Earlier today we noted that the indyref had empowered the Scottish people to an extent that they seemed very reluctant to give up on. But plutocracies don’t become the establishment by giving up their thrones lightly, and so today we get this:
The above is a passage we selected completely at random from the Scotland Bill 2015, the administrative manifestation of “The Vow” and the Smith Commission. It’s entirely typical of the full 77-page document (PDF), which is essentially an unreadable wordspew completely impenetrable to normal people. And that’s no accident.
In barely 48 hours, almost £37,000 has been raised by the general public to challenge the election of a British MP under false pretences. We don’t believe there’s any sort of precedent for that. It would now seem beyond any reasonable doubt that there will be an official legal challenge to the former Secretary of State.
However greatly it may be to the chagrin of metropolitan commentators like Michael White, it appears that the people of Scotland, having been awoken in large numbers by the independence referendum, are simply no longer content to sit back meekly and allow either the political establishment itself or the media which claims to scrutinise it keep its house (or Houses) in order.
The events of the last few years have made Scotland increasingly disinclined to put its trust in self-appointed gatekeepers, and willing to take matters of politics directly into its own hands. Whatever the eventual outcome of the independence story, the electorate seems not to want to go back into its box, where attention is only paid to it twice a decade. If so, the referendum will have brought about a far more wide-reaching victory than anyone ever imagined.
The UK’s forthcoming referendum on EU membership was enshrined in the Queen’s Speech today, and it seems likely that the “Yes” side will be those arguing for the UK to stay in the EU.
That’s a good thing. However, it’s difficult not to get flashbacks to 2011 when various unionist idiots were insisting that the Yes option should have been “Yes to the UK”, effectively holding a referendum on whether people wanted things to remain the same.
For us pedants, holding a referendum in order to ask people if they’re happy to leave things as they are feels instinctively odd, because if nothing else, it implies that there might be something wrong – a bit like someone randomly coming up to you and asking if you’re okay sitting where you are, making you suspect someone must have done something to the seat.
But it’s just as well, because the pro-EU side is going to need all the help it can get to avoid falling into the same pitfalls as the pro-UK side did last year. And unlike the “Better Together” campaign, the pro-EU campaign won’t have a 30%+ buffer in the polls to insulate it against being led by incompetent buffoons.
Many of you won’t have seen this quite extraordinary performance from the Guardian’s assistant editor Michael White on last night’s Scotland Tonight, and you really should.
“Just go on the radio, play it all with a dead bat, fob them off with some bland waffle and kill the story”, the Lib Dems will have said to Sir Malcolm Bruce this morning.
Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie – a man who was at the heart of the “MemoGate” smear, quoted prominently in almost all the media coverage of the untrue slur against Nicola Sturgeon – has offered the opinion that former Secretary of State for Scotland Alistair Carmichael deserves a “second chance” after admitting being behind the fabricated story and then brazenly lying about it on national TV.
We agree with Mr Rennie.
We believe that Mr Carmichael deserves a second chance to be elected, but this time honestly. The only way that can happen is if he is removed as an MP and given the opportunity to present himself to the electorate again in the light of the revelations. If the voters of Orkney & Shetland weigh up all the facts and conclude that on balance Alistair Carmichael should continue to represent them in Parliament, fair enough.
We therefore draw readers’ attention to the above campaign which has been launched by some of Mr Carmichael’s constituents, which seeks to raise the money required to issue a legal challenge to his election as an MP earlier this month, on the grounds that his narrow 817-vote victory was gained on the basis of lying to voters and covering up that lie until after the election, which may constitute an offence under the Representation of the People Act 1983.
The campaign requires just £6,000 to file the complaint, with the rest of the target sum being set against possible costs. Any unused funds will be donated to charity.
The former Liberal Democrat MP (and also the party’s former Scottish leader, and until just a few weeks ago its UK deputy leader) Sir Malcolm Bruce gave an extraordinary interview to Radio 4’s Today programme this morning about Alistair Carmichael.
The whole thing can be heard here, but the short passage below stood out even in the context of a breathless, furious, scattergun performance that sounded like a man on the edge of a nervous breakdown.
We’re sure readers will be greatly comforted by the fact that it’s okay for the Secretary of State for Scotland to tell a “brazen lie”, on the grounds that everyone else in the Houses Of Parliament is a liar too, and by the notion that a government minister who’s caught lying to the nation in order to undermine the democratically-elected leader of Scotland is an offence for which the culprit can simply decide their own punishment.
Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “I guess if Farage ever does become PM, he’ll have far more of a democratic mandate than Burnham has. I’m…” Sep 6, 09:02
Xaracen on Anything But That: “Just to re-centre the discussion for anyone following the thread, the point I originally made — and from which all…” Sep 6, 08:55
Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “The Falklanders should worry. The Argies are the descendants of the most genocidal colonists on the stolen and ethnically cleansed…” Sep 6, 08:47
Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “See, Northy? You CAN post sensibly when you make the effort. I’ll gloss over the fact that much of what…” Sep 6, 08:34
Mark Beggan on Anything But That: “Swinney is looking more reptilian everyday. I do believe he is shedding his skin.” Sep 6, 06:42
Mark Beggan on Anything But That: “” Worry” I’ve forgotten about it already. They are not my pals they’re just people who care about our country.…” Sep 6, 06:41
twathater on Anything But That: “Mark Beggan says: 6 September, 2026 at 12:14 am “corrupt and vicious” That sums up Scottish nationalism. Meanwhile wee Mark’s…” Sep 6, 03:12
Mark Beggan on Anything But That: ““corrupt and vicious” That sums up Scottish nationalism.” Sep 6, 00:14
agentx on Anything But That: “The full statement reads: “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have…” Sep 5, 23:58
Mark Beggan on Anything But That: “” Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom ” Benjamin Franklin” Sep 5, 23:31
Northcode on Anything But That: “There’s a lot of talk in this place, and elsewhere, suggesting that because of Scotland’s sovereign past and how the…” Sep 5, 23:00
Insider on Anything But That: “Mark ! Behave yourself ! “James Che” is actually a very old lady who is sadly suffering from the onset…” Sep 5, 21:22
robertkknight on Anything But That: “I wouldn’t restrict such an astute observation to today…” Sep 5, 20:05
Spartan 117 on Anything But That: “Your posts here today have been appalling. Grow up.” Sep 5, 19:46
factchecker on Anything But That: “Alas, there are no facts here to check, merely your incomprehensible meanderings around historical events using terms like ‘sine die’…” Sep 5, 19:44
James Che on Anything But That: “Mark, Its a same when politicians cant convince the electors and have to resort to violence to get their own…” Sep 5, 19:10
Mark Beggan on Anything But That: “I would like yo start a crowdfunder to get James Che laid. The only condition is that he can only…” Sep 5, 18:55
robertkknight on Anything But That: “Praying that Reform win a huge majority of seats in England and damn all in Scotland. That’ll learn the ‘proud…” Sep 5, 18:42
James Che on Anything But That: “These are the reasons that Stu has difficulty holding anyone to account like the SNP under the Crown of Westminsters…” Sep 5, 18:35
Aidan on Anything But That: ““Whatever you do, do not talk about the Status of the treaty of union between Scotland and England as Unionist…” Sep 5, 18:34
James Che on Anything But That: “Factchecker. You may also need to check some other facts such as , 1: the old parliament of Scotland was…” Sep 5, 18:28
Aidan on Anything But That: “Nobody is asking the courts to “create sovereignties” because that phrase has no meaning in the English language. However, what…” Sep 5, 18:16
Mark Beggan on Anything But That: “Polish police now allowed to shoot illegal immigrants and the AFD set to gain power. That’s going to take more…” Sep 5, 18:15
James Che on Anything But That: “Factchecker, Scotland would have to pay the rUK billions. How did you work that one out, Scotland has never entered…” Sep 5, 18:03
James Che on Anything But That: “Whatever you do, do not talk about the Status of the treaty of union between Scotland and England as Unionist…” Sep 5, 17:48
Young Lochinvar on Anything But That: ““Con-artist” perhaps?” Sep 5, 17:28
Mark Beggan on Anything But That: “There go’s the holidays in Spain.” Sep 5, 16:25
Confused on Anything But That: “I bet Simon Weston is happy that the penguins remained British, by God. https://archive.ph/61CcA a fascinating tale, full of spicy…” Sep 5, 16:24
