Should Alistair Carmicheal Resign

[gordiescotland1]

Should alistair carmicheal resign after admitting he tried to discredit Nicola Sturgeon

[jno]

not just the smear but lying about it when questioned. He's lost his ministerial position and given up his severance pay, which some might think was enough, as well as his reputation. But I can understand why Sturgeon thinks he should be out of parliament altogether.

[Buenchico]

He was just plying the usual game of politics.

However I'm mystified as to why he would want to discredit Nicola Sturgeon. Since the Conservative party stood no chance of success in Scotland, the most important thing for them was to see Labour fail miserably there; so it was actually in the interests of the Conservaives that the SNP should do well in Scotland.

[Ouzel]

^^ He's a Liberal Democrat.

[Buenchico]

^^^Memo to self: Put brain into gear before posting!

[Gromit]

Quite clearly 'dirty tricks' which reflects badly on Alistair Carmichael and his discreditted Party. But it is not a resigning his seat issue. If the SNP were serious, they would report him to the ele torial Commission and they haven't.

I was puzzled by this statement from Carmichael:
// "I should not have agreed this. It was an error of judgment which I regret. //

That seems to imply that he was put up to the smear by someone else (presumably more senior). The Inquiry into the matter does reveal who he "agreed this" with, so one has to ask how thorough the inquiry was, and conclude that it was a whitewash.

[mikey4444]

Yes...he quite clearly lied, and has admitted as much.

[THECORBYLOON]

The investigation costing a reported £1.4 million(!!!) found the original memo was written in good faith but it is the lie that is the issue. He is, as far as I'm aware, an Elder in the Church of Scotland still (a not insignificant position) and at the time, he was Secretary of State for Scotland. Had he been an S of S still, it would have been a resignation issue but other than his decision not to accept the payment he is entitled to, he has suffered no penalty.

His lying has cost him his reputation, it cast doubt on the First Minister and more importantly to some no doubt, it cost £1.4 million to investigate. If he believes the electorate has faith in him, he should put that to the test by resigning as MP and standing for re - election.

[sandyRoe]

Will this join the Zinoviev Letter in the history of dirty tricks?
If he was an honourable man he'd resign and devote the rest of his day to doing charitable work.

[mikey4444]

Corby has it right here.

[Noe-schitt]

He isn't going to resign the Liberal Democrat cant afford to lose another seat

[Peter Pedant]

// ^^^Memo to self: Put brain into gear before posting! //

ah come on ! this is AB

[ joke ! joke ! ]

[mikey4444]

Noe-schitt....One more or one less....will it really make any difference ?

The LibDems are a spent force, at least for the next generation or so.

[Old_Geezer]

Surely it would have been agreed at the high level talks when it was decided to leak the info that he would take the fall and be quietly ushered back later should it all hit the fan ?

Anyway I'm unsure what he hoped to gain. Voters were unlikely to vote Lib or even Con should they opt not to look after regional self interest instead of UK interest, at the ballot box. And surely he didn't want them to turn to Lab ?

[Peter Pedant]

// Anyway I'm unsure what he hoped to gain.//

Politicians do all sorts of things we dont understand - I mean look at Gorgeous Geo Galloway, that was

Nicola S seems to have taken to the playground politics of the House of Commons with gusto

[whiskeryron]

I am so sorry to see yet another Lib Dem letting himself down. It is a sad state of affairs how the party has deteriorated. I did hope for better results in the general election, because we really do need middle of the road politics to step away from both left & right thinking.

[mikey4444]

WR......I am with you there. But when the LibDems signed that pact with the Devil in 2010, they paved the way for what happened on May 7th.

And if they don't buck their ideas up, they will be like the old Liberal party in the 50's, 60's and 70's....just also-rans, irrelevant, and nobody much will give a toss.

If you look at the evidence in the West Country at the Election, it obvious that legions of people that voted LibDem in 2010, transferred their votes to the Tories. Difficult to really understand, but without doubt, that is what happened.

[steg]

// Anyway I'm unsure what he hoped to gain.//

He won the only lib dem seat up here by less than a 1000 votes

if the electorate had known about it and known he lied and tried to cover it up would he of still won his seat? I very much doubt that he would of

[ludwig]

Of course he should. He's a shameless liar, which would be ok for a politician if he hadn't been found out, but he has. So he should do the decent thing and *** off.