THE crowdfunding campaign for the Orkney four’s bid to unseat lying MP Alistair Carmichael has sensationally passed the £100,000 mark.
Four residents in Carmichael’s constituency started the initiative to fund legal action against Scotland’s only Liberal Democrat MP after he admitted leaking then lying about a false memo aimed at damaging Nicola Sturgeon.
Fiona MacInnes and Tim Morrison started the crowdfunding campaign to bring the case and within weeks it had exceeded its first target of £60,000.
After the first sitting of an Election Court in Scotland for 50 years, Lady Paton and Lord Matthews said they wanted to hear evidence. By that time the fundraiser had restarted and quickly built to last night’s total of £100,060 from 5,679 supporters.
Morrison said: “It’s incredible and inspirational that so many people care about democracy.”
The case has become known as Frenchgate and it moves closer to a conclusion next week when lawyers for both sides meet at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.
Court No 1 in Parliament House is the venue for an Election Court “by order” hearing in the case brought under the Representation of the People Act 1983.
Section 106 of the Act makes it an offence to make or publish false statements about any candidate during an election, and Lady Paton and Lord Matthews ruled that it could also apply to “self-talking”, as well as attacking another candidate.
The People v Carmichael contend that he lied about his own personal character and conduct during the election campaign to maintain his reputation as a man of honour in Orkney and Shetland – against section 106.
Monday’s hearing will set out the ground rules for the forthcoming trial, including its location – it could be held in Kirkwall – the witnesses, the time to set aside for it and whether the standard of proof should be the same as in a criminal case or a civil one.
It is thought that in light of the fact it would be a criminal offence to contravene Section 106, the standard of proof would be the more stringent criminal level.
Carmichael will have to give evidence under oath and former LibDem leader Nick Clegg could be one of the witnesses. He had previously said Carmichael had told him that the leak didn’t come from him, but in his responses Carmichael said Clegg had not been briefed.
He has already admitted leaking and then lying about a memo that was aimed at damaging Nicola Sturgeon. It falsely claimed she had told the French Ambassador she would prefer David Cameron to remain in Downing Street.
An inquiry found he was responsible for sanctioning the leak to The Telegraph through special adviser Euan Roddin.
Carmichael then admitted his part and apologised to Sturgeon, but has refused to stand down and fight a by-election. He said he would have resigned over the memo had he still been a Government minister, but declined his ministerial severance payment.
Support for the former Scottish Secretary is thin on the ground. Last night, Carmichael’s own campaign to pay his legal fees had raised £7,755 from fewer than 200 people in a month.
Carmichael was one of just eight LibDem survivors on May 7, but his majority of more than 10,000 was squeezed to 817 votes.
He is also being investigated by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Kathryn Hudson, who will establish whether or not his behaviour breached the Commons Code of Conduct.
If Hudson conducts a follow-up investigation and finds Carmichael guilty, she could exercise a punishment of a lengthy suspension from the Commons, and a by-election could be triggered under the Recall of MPs Act 2015.
This was the brainchild of Nick Clegg and states that if an MP is suspended for just 10 sitting days, then only 10 per cent of his or her constituents would need to sign a petition demanding a by-election.
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