THE ORKNEY Four who took their lying MP to court, have written an open letter to Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron, asking him to dismiss Alistair Carmichael from his home affairs spokesperson’s role and to withdraw the party whip.
Tim Morrison, Cary Welling, Fiona Grahame and Phaemie Matheson said constituents in his Orkney and Shetland seat were “justifiably shocked and dismayed at discovering that they had been so misled” by the MP.
Morrison said: “As Mr Carmichael is refusing to resign despite being found to have misled his constituents, we expect the leader of the Liberal Democrats to do what other party leaders have done in similar circumstances and disassociate himself from tactics, which although found to be within the law were, according to the court, at best disingenuous and at worst evasive and self-serving.
“If this does not happen his party will become a byword for dishonesty.”
In their letter, the four said: “Whilst not in breach of Section 106 of the Misrepresentation of the People Act 1983, the judges were satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that ‘the false statement of fact was made for the purpose of affecting (positively) the return of the first respondent as a Liberal Democrat in the constituency of Orkney and Shetland’.”
They added that Carmichael had given the impression that the timing of his admission was a result of the rate of progress of the Cabinet Office inquiry.
“In our opinion however, the first respondent’s approach to the inquiry was at best disingenuous, at worst evasive and self-serving,” they said.
“We consider that he could and should have been straightforward and candid in his response to the inquiry. That would have been likely to reveal his involvement in the leak at some time prior to the election, so that his constituents, when voting, would have been ‘in full possession of the facts during the election’.
“It is our opinion that his failure to be straightforward and candid with the inquiry resulted from his hope that he would not be identified as being involved in the leak – preferably not identified at all, but at least not identified until after the election on 7 May 2015, as otherwise his chances of electoral success might be prejudicially affected.”
The petitioners said the decent course would be for Carmichael to resign and “test his forgiveness” in the ballot box, or he would continue to remain – as he had been described in the media “a political pariah”.
They added: “If he chooses not to resign and unless you take action, no one anywhere, can be expected to believe any statement made by your party and its candidates in any election.”
The move came as the Orkney Four’s crowdfunding campaign last night sat at £195,500.
A similar campaign for Carmichael’s legal fees had reached £13,700 last night, as questions were still being asked about why he had declared none of the contributions in the Commons Register of Members’ Financial Interests.
Meanwhile, Police Scotland confirmed that they had issued Carmichael “safety advice” after a “threatening letter” was sent to his Kirkwall office.
A spokesman said: “Police in Orkney are carrying out enquiries following reported items of communications being sent to the office of the local Member of Parliament, on Thursday, December 10, 2015. Inquiries are continuing and suitable safety advice has been provided.”
The letter was thought to relate to Carmichael’s decision to vote in favour of air strikes on Syria following a Commons debate on December 2.
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