Nicola Sturgeon turns up the heat on Alistair Carmichael over memo leak

Former Scots Secretary Alistair Carmichael is under growing pressure to quit as an MP over a “dirty tricks” campaign against First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

It was revealed on Saturday the Lib Dem MP is facing an investigation by the Westminster standards watchdog over a leaked memo which incorrectly claimed Miss Sturgeon told the French Ambassador, Sylvie Bermann, she wanted David Cameron to win the General Election.

Miss Sturgeon said her Lib Dem rival should “consider his position” and welcomed the probe by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.

Questions are also being asked of the UK Government’s seven-week inquiry and whether it could have reported its findings before the General Election, giving voters in Mr Carmichael’s Orkney and Shetland constituency, which he won by just 800 votes, sight of its findings.

Mr Carmichael has apologised to both Miss Sturgeon and the French Ambassador to the UK after a Cabinet Office investigation into the leak concluded he “could and should have stopped the sharing of the memo”, and he added he “accepts responsibility for what occurred”.

But Miss Sturgeon said: “If he had put his hands up during the election, people could have made their own judgment, but he didn’t, and voters in Orkney and Shetland weren’t in possession of the full facts when they voted.

“I understand there has been a complaint to the Standards Commissioner and that should be fully investigated.

“People will draw their own conclusions, both in terms of the conduct of Alistair Carmichael and the lack of any action by the Liberal Democrats.”

The Liberal Democrats said party officials would not be launching internal disciplinary proceedings against Mr Carmichael.

“He has given up £17,000 of ministerial severance pay,” a spokesman said. “We feel that is sanction enough.”

The leaked document was written by a British civil servant following a conversation with Consul-General Pierre-Alain Coffinier regarding a meeting between Ms Sturgeon and Ms Bermann.

The investigation into the source of the leak found an official mobile phone held by one of Mr Carmichael’s advisors was used to make calls to one of the journalists involved in the original story.

The adviser confirmed he had provided a copy of the Scotland Office memo to the journalist after Mr Carmichael had given him the go-ahead.

The Lib Dem then went on TV and lied about how much he knew about the memo.