Leaked Memo

[Maq]

Surely he HAS to go??

* Used his position as SoS to smear the First Minister, almost causing a diplomatic incident with the French ambassador

* denied all knowledge of it

* used public money for an inquiry, knowing full well it was him

* lied through an election campaign

* after the election (when he scraped through with what, 1000 votes?) admits he lied, and should have resigned his position as SoS

He has to go, surely. How can anyone ever believe him again?

[mariokempes56]

Surely he HAS to go??

He has to go, surely. How can anyone ever believe him again?

Agree 100% . Just another lying self-serving bastirt. (Been a few over the years..).

[aaid]

The Lib Dems got totally fecked by the Tories all over. Cameron came out and said he had heard specifically from Mundell that it was nothing to do with him, that was what prompted the LibDems to make statements as in a subtle way Cameron was throwing Carmichael under the bus by saying "well it wasn't his deputy who did it as he told me".

Whoever is doing Tory strategy is fecking formidable and highly competent, that's why i'm warning of traps on this fox-hunting shyte,

It was pretty obvious it was the Fib-Dems that were behind it from the start. Given that the Tories we're painting up the whole Ed Miliband in Alex Salmond/Nicola Sturgeon's pocket, they weren't likely to want to suggest that Nicola wasn't too keen on that really.

Remember that the original article in the telegraph didn't say where the leak had come from, I'm not sure it mentioned a memo at that time, I think it was just a report of the "conversation" without attributing where they had heard it from. There was some initial suspicion it had been leaked by the French.

The telegraph had to publish the memo because after the story broke, it was pretty quickly being rubbished - denied by everyone involved - and they were being accused of making the whole thing up.

When it became clear it came from the Scottish Office, well that just pointed straight at Carmichael.

There was also some talk that it was a Tory trick to get Labour to look bad but the only real way that Labour got to look bad out of it was they went into a complete "SNP bad" feeding frenzy that made them look stupid as the story unravelled and led to lots of tweets being deleted.

Edited May 22, 2015 by aaid

[Pool Q]

He'll not resign his seat. All the stuff about how he would resign were he still a minister, and not taking up severance pay, is his way of 'taking responsibility', and the MSM will go along with it.

[giblet]

So Wullie Rennie would have known early on, he was quoted in the story by the Telegraph, clear he knew as well.

[Pool Q]

Apologies.

Edited May 22, 2015 by Pool Q

[Return of Yermaw]

just as bad as leaking it in the first place is lying about it and then allowing an enquiry taking place knowing full well he was the leak.

How much time and money could have been saved if he had admitted it. He should go, but he won't

He knew any enquiry would not be complete until after the election (although God knows how it takes weeks on end to uncover something that would be established in a couple of working days). I believe he has come out separate from the enquiry? He calculated all this at the time and thought "end of May is when I'll hold my hands up". Duplicitous w.anker and "established" politicians wonder why voters are disenchanted by them and their parties.

Edited May 22, 2015 by Return of Yermaw

[aaid]

So Wullie Rennie would have known early on, he was quoted in the story by the Telegraph, clear he knew as well.

That was what made me think the leak had come from the Lib Dems when I read the original article. WTF was Wee Willie Rennie doing commenting on it. I actually thought at first he may be the source.

As far as Carmichael saying that if he was still a Cabinet Minister he would resign, well he was a Cabinet Minister at the time, MPs stand down when Parliament is dissolved but the government remains in place.

[Hertsscot]

Absolutely disgusting. I wonder how the voters of Orkney would have voted if this had come out before the election.

[Return of Yermaw]

Absolutely disgusting. I wonder how the voters of Orkney would have voted if this had come out before the election.

given how close the vote was, I think that's pretty clear. I wonder when he tries clinging on to his seat, whether any of the MSM will consistently ask him why he didn't own up to this at the time? Why did he constantly refer to awaiting the outcome of an enquiry. If he stays in his seat, its the final nail in the coffin for any pretence of a democratic and transparent political system in this country.

[giblet]

Dirty bassa Roddin who is (was) his special advisor was the one that phoned the Torygraph. Roddin was heavily involved in indyref as well for the No camp.

[giblet]

This is the Government statement.

Effectively no proof of Sturgeon saying anything, but the civil servant is known to be of good character so no doubts about validity of conversation with French ambassador..

Scotland Office memorandum leak: Cabinet Office inquiry statement

From: Cabinet Office and Scotland Office First published: 22 May 2015

This statement follows the completion of an inquiry into a leaked Scotland Office memorandum.

Following the leak of a Scotland Office memorandum that formed the basis of a story in the Daily Telegraph on 3 April, the Cabinet Secretary instigated a Cabinet Office-led leak inquiry to establish how this memo came to be written and how it got into the public domain. The inquiry process is now complete.

The memo

The investigation team interviewed the civil servant in the Scotland Office who produced the memo. He confirmed under questioning that he believed that the memo was an accurate record of the conversation that took place between him and the French Consul General, and highlighted that the memo had stated that part of the conversation between the French Ambassador and the First Minister might well have been “lost in translation”.

Senior officials who have worked with him say that he is reliable and has no history of inaccurate reporting, impropriety or security lapses. The Cabinet Secretary has concluded that there is no reason to doubt that he recorded accurately what he thought he had heard. There is no evidence of any political motivation or ‘dirty tricks’.

The leak

In investigating the source of the leak, the investigation team searched all relevant official phone records, emails and print logs. Those who had access to the memo were asked to complete a questionnaire on what they did with the memo when they received it. They were then interviewed.

The investigation established the following facts:

• an official mobile phone was used to make telephone calls to one of the authors of the Daily Telegraph story. This phone was held by Euan Roddin, previously Special Adviser to the then Secretary of State for Scotland, Alistair Carmichael
• Mr Roddin confirmed that he provided a copy of the Scotland Office memo to a Daily Telegraph journalist on 1 April 2015, and discussed the memo with the journalist on a number of occasions. He 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
• Alistair Carmichael confirmed that he had been asked by Mr Roddin for his view of the possibility of sharing the memo with the press. Mr Carmichael agreed that this should occur. He recognises that, as a Secretary of State, he was responsible for his own conduct and that of his Special Adviser. He could and should have stopped the sharing of the memo and accordingly accepts responsibility for what occurred
• no-one else had any involvement in the leaking of the memo

The investigation team has therefore concluded that Mr Roddin, with the assent of Mr Carmichael in the circumstances described above, was the direct source of the Daily Telegraph story. The Cabinet Secretary has accepted their findings in full. Mr Carmichael and Mr Roddin have also accepted the conclusions.

Neither Mr Carmichael nor Mr Roddin will take their severance pay.

[phart]

It was pretty obvious it was the Fib-Dems that were behind it from the start. Given that the Tories we're painting up the whole Ed Miliband in Alex Salmond/Nicola Sturgeon's pocket, they weren't likely to want to suggest that Nicola wasn't too keen on that really.

Remember that the original article in the telegraph didn't say where the leak had come from, I'm not sure it mentioned a memo at that time, I think it was just a report of the "conversation" without attributing where they had heard it from. There was some initial suspicion it had been leaked by the French.

The telegraph had to publish the memo because after the story broke, it was pretty quickly being rubbished - denied by everyone involved - and they were being accused of making the whole thing up.

When it became clear it came from the Scottish Office, well that just pointed straight at Carmichael.

There was also some talk that it was a Tory trick to get Labour to look bad but the only real way that Labour got to look bad out of it was they went into a complete "SNP bad" feeding frenzy that made them look stupid as the story unravelled and led to lots of tweets being deleted.

Getting the denials by "casually" remarking Mundell certainly didn't do it is the context i mean, as opposed to who it appeared to be from the get-go.

[aaid]

Getting the denials by "casually" remarking Mundell certainly didn't do it is the context i mean, as opposed to who it appeared to be from the get-go.

I understand that, once the cat was out the bag they were quick to distance themselves from the leak and point the finger accordingly.

[mariokempes56]

The investigation team has therefore concluded that Mr Roddin, with the assent of Mr Carmichael in the circumstances described above, was the direct source of the Daily Telegraph story. The Cabinet Secretary has accepted their findings in full. Mr Carmichael and Mr Roddin have also accepted the conclusions.

Neither Mr Carmichael nor Mr Roddin will take their severance pay.

Eh ? So have they resigned / been sacked ? Lying (several times) in the course of a general election, breach of umpteen CS rules no doubt.

FFS in most jobs that us mere plebs have that would be a walking offence.

[aaid]

They were both "sacked" by virtue of the Tories getting an outright majority.

Carmichael no longer Secretary of State and Roddin - as a Liberal special adviser - would also have had to resign.

Political special advisers, although officially civil servants, are different from career civil servants who generally remain in post regardless of who forms the government.

[phart]

I understand that, once the cat was out the bag they were quick to distance themselves from the leak and point the finger accordingly.

The more I think about it the more i begin to rage a bit. Knowing it was him and then pissing £1.4 million on an inquiry then just going "my bad". That's without considering the Scottish Office working to undermine the First Minister of Scotland during an Election. Also the suspicion by people like me that the neutrality of the Civil Service is becoming more compromised in any SNP related Issue.

[Rossy]

I utterly detest these lying Unionist f*ckers, and their lackeys in the right-wing media.

[Rossy]

https://www.change.org/p/alistair-carmichael-mp-resign-as-an-mp

[Lamia]

Absolutely disgusting. I wonder how the voters of Orkney would have voted if this had come out before the election.

The fact that he didn't even give them the chance to make that judgement must make it even more likely that enough of them who voted for him will no longer want him to make his position untenable.

[aaid]

Thing that is doubly embarrassing for him is that he's on record as supporting the recall of MPs.

[Cove_Sheep]

Thing that is doubly embarrassing for him is that he's on record as supporting the recall of MPs.

Most probably are.

Just not when it applies to them...

[Return of Yermaw]

£1.4m. FFS.

- how did it cost that much? Unbelievable.

- not exactly the Chilcot inquiry here with one major suspect from the off

- why did it take so many weeks to conduct such a simple enquiry

- Carmichael could have admitted culpability at any point to save the tax payer money

Where the feck do you start and stop with this? As everyone says, if he has the temerity to try and stay on as an MP, he and the Libs should be reminded about his duplicity, dishonestly, arrogance, wastefulness and complete disregard for the voters and his constituents every friggin day............

[RenfrewBlue]

Carmicheal is an utter who doesn't give a flying feck for the law or the people of this country.

He should face criminal charges relating to election fraud and be removed as an MP. If the Lib Dems don't bin him it just shows how pathetic they've become.

I'm sick to the back teeth of lieing politicians getting away with things that we, their nominal employers, would get sacked and possibly jailed for.

I'd sign the petition but Change.org seems to be experiencing technical issues right now. Hopefully because thousands of folk are on signing it to get this sacked.

[Clyde1998]

https://www.change.org/p/alistair-carmichael-mp-resign-as-an-mp

Their server has crashed. Obviously due to the amount of people trying to sign this petition.

Edited May 22, 2015 by Clyde1998