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| Alistair Carmichael: No further action over memo leak | Alistair Carmichael: No further action over memo leak |
| (34 minutes later) | |
| Former Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael will not face any party disciplinary proceedings after admitting being behind the leak of a memo before the general election. | Former Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael will not face any party disciplinary proceedings after admitting being behind the leak of a memo before the general election. |
| A Lib Dem spokesman said no more action would be taken after the suggestion that Nicola Sturgeon wanted David Cameron to remain as prime minister. | A Lib Dem spokesman said no more action would be taken after the suggestion that Nicola Sturgeon wanted David Cameron to remain as prime minister. |
| Orkney and Shetland MP Mr Carmichael said it was an error of judgement. | Orkney and Shetland MP Mr Carmichael said it was an error of judgement. |
| SNP deputy leader Stewart Hosie has said the party must be held to account. | SNP deputy leader Stewart Hosie has said the party must be held to account. |
| He also told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he understood a complaint had already been made to the parliamentary standards commissioner. | He also told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he understood a complaint had already been made to the parliamentary standards commissioner. |
| SNP leader Ms Sturgeon has called for Mr Carmichael to consider his position as an MP and described the leak of the confidential memo as a "blatant election dirty trick". | SNP leader Ms Sturgeon has called for Mr Carmichael to consider his position as an MP and described the leak of the confidential memo as a "blatant election dirty trick". |
| He has since accepted "the details of the account are not correct" and accepted "full responsibility for the publication". | He has since accepted "the details of the account are not correct" and accepted "full responsibility for the publication". |
| A spokesman for the Liberal Democrats said: "Alistair has taken responsibility and has given up £17,000. The party fully supports him as MP for Orkney and Shetland." | |
| Mr Carmichael had been entitled to receive £17,000 severance pay after losing his Cabinet position. | |
| The confidential memo was published by the Daily Telegraph on 3 April as the general election campaign got under way. | |
| It was written by a civil servant in the Scotland Office and claimed Ms Sturgeon told the French Ambassador to the UK, Sylvie Bermann, that she would prefer Mr Cameron, the leader of the Conservatives, to remain as prime minister. | |
| The memo also claimed Ms Sturgeon said that Ed Miliband, who was then Labour's leader, was not prime minister material. | |
| The official cabinet office inquiry into the leaking of the memo said Mr Carmichael's former special adviser Euan Roddin gave the details to the Daily Telegraph - but he had Mr Carmichael's permission to do so. | |
| Mr Carmichael said, while he had not seen the document before it was published by the newspaper, he was "aware of its content and agreed that my special adviser should make it public". |