BOWED and bloodied, but not beaten was the mood yesterday as the Orkney Four “won a defeat” in the Frenchgate court case to unseat their lying MP Alistair Carmichael.
Lady Paton and Lord Matthews found the Lib DemMP had told a “blatant lie” when he said in a TV interview that he had been unaware of a leaked memo aimed at damaging Nicola Sturgeon until after he had been asked about it by a journalist.
But they ruled it had not been proved “beyond reasonable doubt” that he had committed an “illegal practice”.
The case had been brought by four Orkney constituents – Tim Morrison, Cary Welling, Phaemie Matheson and Fiona Grahame – under the Representation of the People Act, 1983.
Morrison told The National last night: “It’s quite bizarre isn’t it, the way we in Scotland can win a defeat? Today I really feel that we have won a defeat. I think Mr Carmichael should do the decent thing – which he should have done at the outset – and stand down to face his constituents in a by-election.
“But I’m not at all hopeful about that.”
Lady Paton said: “There is no dispute that the words ‘I told you the first I became aware of this, and this is already on public record, was when I received a phone call on Friday afternoon [ie April 3 2015] from a journalist making me aware of it’ constituted a false statement of fact, in other words, a lie. Obviously the first respondent had been aware of the existence of the memo and its contents as described to him by Mr Roddin since the flight to the Faroe Islands in March 2015. Moreover he had authorised Mr Roddin to release the memo to The Daily Telegraph.”
However, on the matter of whether the lie could properly be characterised as a false statement of fact “in relation to [his] personal character or conduct”, the judges were left with a reasonable doubt.
Morrison added that they had won two of the three points of law the judges had considered.
He said: The first point is that candidates must tell the truth about themselves. We lost the second point because we failed to establish that Mr Carmichael’s lie was a false statement about his personal character.
“And we only lost because of his wording. If he had said on Channel 4 ‘I am not the kind of person who leaks’ when he was, he would have told a personal lie.
“We won the third point – the judges accepted that Mr Carmichael lied to his electorate in this constituency to manipulate the result.
“What we can see is that the law is not fit for purpose. This is no criticism of the judges. They have done everything they can to be fair – what is at fault is legislation that does not allow such disgraceful behaviour to be punished.
“There has been a great deal of speculation about our motives in bringing this case, but all that matters is that we are normal voters. We have been able to do this because of the more than 8,000 people who have paid money because they believe in a fair vote.
“We still want a by-election and may yet have one. Mr Carmichael has to now face the judgment of the House of Commons standards commissioner.
“It now seems clear that he has brought the House into disrepute and he may well be suspended, which would leave us unrepresented at Westminster.”
An SNP spokesperson said: “As today’s determination makes clear beyond reasonable doubt, Alistair Carmichael told a ‘blatant lie’ to improve his chance of re-election.
“While he prevailed in the election court on a strict interpretation of the law, it is much more doubtful that he or his party will survive the court of public opinion.” Highlands and Islands Green MSP John Finnie, the party’s justice spokesperson, joined the calls for Carmichael to quit, as he had “shattered the trust of the electorate”.
He said: “A lie is a lie. Whatever the result of this case was going to be Mr Carmichael’s integrity was shot to pieces when he admitted after the election that he had lied, not only to his constituents, but to the whole country.
“I believe Mr Carmichael should seriously consider his position following this hair-split decision by the court. Perhaps he wants to consider resigning and go into a by-election to allow him to face his constituents with the full facts and the opportunity to regain their support.”
However, Carmichael vowed to continue as an MP after what he called the “politically-motivated” bid to oust him from his seat.
He was backed by his party leader Tim Farron, who said it was the “right outcome” and Scottish leader Willie Rennie.
Last night the Orkney Four’s crowdfunding total had passed £180,000.
The National View: Pointless to expect this self-confessed liar to show shred of decency
Who are the Orkney Four?
The Orkney Four: Tim Morrison admits they're a rabble but not a political one ...
The Orkney Four: Cary Welling thought Carmichael implied he was above dirty tricks
The Orkney Four: Phaemie Matheson was fed up of MPS acting as if they were untouchable
The Orkney Four: Fiona Grahame cannot forgive Carmichael's continued deceit
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