Election was well fought (Gerry McGarvey)
I would like to congratulate Alistair Carmichael on winning last week’s General Election.
The election was fought on very fair terms and my commiserations go to all the other candidates.
Thanks also to the election officers of Orkney and Shetland Islands Councils and their officials who worked dutifully through this period.
I also appreciate the fair and equitable column space given by The Shetland Times allowing me another means of putting Scottish Labour’s message to the public.
I have enjoyed my time meeting party members whilst campaigning in both island groups and wish them well in future campaigns.
Gerry McGarvey
Scottish Labour
c/o Gordon Thomson (election agent)
Hamar,
Baltasound,
Unst.
Brian Smith
Our local Tory/UKIP contributors to the Shetland Times probably think this is an excellent prospectus:
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/05/23-most-terrifying-things-tory-manifesto
Michael Garriock
Na, hits juist brawly noo an sae. Still better than the “spend, spend, spend, an da deil tak da morn” plans of the opposing side though.
Brian Smith
See whit I mean.
laurence paton
At a glance there are about six of those proposals I don’t agree with .
In particular , disabled folk should have there benefit protected,
And electoral reform / house of lord reform is a must.
I expect there are people out there who have become so polarised or tribal in there politics that they cannot bring themselves to acknowledge rational and sensible policy from the party which they oppose
Brian Smith
Yep, the Tories and UKIP, extremists, are much closer than is usually realised. Enjoy your fox-hunting, lads.
laurence paton
Sadly no mention on the erosion of democracy under the E.U.
This country should follow Iceland’s lead
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/12/iceland-drops-european-union-membership-bid
At least we still have good old Nigel !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwbEMVsGFJg
John Tulloch
Yes, Laurence, I’m not a Ukip supporter, I voted for Grimond and Wallace in the past but fell out with the Lib Dems over their nonsensical policies on global warming. This time round I’ve been forced to overlook that and vote Liberal, again, to resist the “tsunami” of hysteria accompanying the march of “Alex’s Army”.
I am, broadly, in favour of international co-operation, however, I have major misgivings about how the EU is presently run. In particular, where Shetland is concerned, I’m not clear about membership being a benefit, overall.
I’ve asked the SNP and other local enthusiasts many times to explain why it’s beneficial for Shetland to be in the EU when our fishing-orientated neighbours Iceland and Faroe have declined to join. I have yet to receive an answer.
And Farage’s speech richly deserved the hearty applause it received. He told them the truth, to their faces, in front of the assembled EU Parliament.
Gordon Harmer
We’ve got used to criticisms and, naturally, we try to make sure we brush off the more extreme ones because most of the commentators who have taken their bigoted left wing extremist view of our lives and comments are people that we’ve never met, and thank goodness probably never will.
Michael Garriock
@ Brian, If the Tories and UKIP are ‘extremists’, what do you term the British National Party and the English Defence League?
Lets face it, the Tories are a wet blanket languishing in the limp middle ground of politics, and UKIP are simply what the Tories used to be when they were a right wing party, which in and of itself is no more ‘extreme’ than ‘old’ Labour were ‘extreme’ left wing.
At least now in the UKIP we have a realistic ‘blue’ right wing option again, we just need a viable ‘red’ left wing option to make politics be worth a damn again, instead of this slightly different shades of grey morass of nothingness of the last 25 years.
Brian Smith
Yes, it’s most interesting to see this convergence between the Tories and UKIP (and in one case Lib Dems). Shetland is probably the only place that this happens. (Of course, we are only speaking about a handful of people.)
Meanwhile, this is the best account I have seen to date of what happened in the election:
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n11/ross-mckibbin/labour-dies-again
Harry Dent
Some candidates may have fought well; others fought plain dirty.
I look forward to Mr Carmichael’s resignation.
Yes, I can look forward to it as much as I like, can’t I? But, despite being exposed as a thoroughly dishonourable -ahem- gentleman, he’ll be staying put until 2020, drawing a big fat salary at our expense.
Robin Stevenson
Today’s Glasgow herald:
“Former Scottish secretary Alistair Carmichael has apologised to both Nicola Sturgeon and the French ambassador to the UK after accepting responsibility for a leaked memo which alleged the Scotland First Minister wanted Tory leader David Cameron to win the general election”.
Plain dirty?…Spot on Harry,…The sad part is, people voted for this buffoon.
John Tulloch
How about the MSP “buffoon” – Mike MacKenzie – the SNP sent to Shetland to pick up cudgels on behalf of Communities United for Rural Education (CURE) and slag off the SIC for trying to close country schools, when all the time the SNP and their pals in COSLA were underfunding Shetland’s education by £19.3Mpa, now reduced to £10Mpa by heavy council spending cuts?
What would you call that?
I call it cynical and pure, unadulterated humbug.
Brian Smith
Mr Carmichael’s plan was really very stupid. No-one was likely to believe that smear. He was just a bit simple. By the way, Mr Tulloch’s attempt to divert attention away from his hero’s nonsense is breathtaking …
Robin Stevenson
Deviation from the issue, is what I’d call it, whatever your latest rant is, IF you’re happy being hoodwinked into voting for Alistair Carmichael, and STILL have nothing to say in the matter, then I’m afraid you’re as silly now as you were then.
EVERY one of our 32 Scottish councils faces cuts, when will you get that into your head????
You voted for that, along with Mr [these things happen] Carmichael, at least have the courtesy to admit you were utterly wrong on both counts?…
James Watt
Why am I not surprised to see the first response to Robin’s comment couldn’t defend Carmichael’s actions so the poster had no choice but to resort to an incredibly weak case of whataboutery to distract you from the real issue.
In the run up to a General Election, Alistair Carmichael authorised the release of a memo containing incorrect information about the First Minister, he then lied to his electorate when he denied any involvement in the leaking of the memo. Since then Carmichael has been re-elected as Orkney and Shetland MP, allowed the tax payer to fund a £1.4M inquiry into a leak that he knew he was responsible for, and acknowledged that had he still been Scottish Secretary he would have had to resign due to his actions.
It’s truly astonishing that given the above information, John felt the response that was most appropriate to Carmichael’s deceit was yet another “SNP bad” rant, but I suppose it’s probably easier for John to pretend his comments about Mike MacKenzie are relevant than it is to face up to how Carmichael might have just hammered the final nail into the Lib Dems hopes of re-election in Orkney and Shetland at Holyrood and Westminster.
John Tulloch
@Robin Stevenson, or whoever you are,
You see, you’re at it again. I’m not defending Carmichael’s action, I’m pointing out that where deceit is concerned, the SNP are a match for anyone.
Education funding is distributed on a “per pupil” basis, as opposed to a “needs” basis which is hugely to the advantage of big cities and densely-populated areas.
Yet Danus Skene fought the Orkney and Sheland campaign studiously avoiding all local issues while you rattled off staccato denials and obfuscation on the internet, precisely, as you are still doing, now.
You should all resign, you and Skene, included, the band of you are a damned disgrace!
John Tulloch
Brian Smith,
I’m not defending Carmichael’s action at all. Unlike the SNP who have no difficulty with their own deceit, I can’t condone that kind of behaviour. Just like the SNP’s hypocrisy over education, it drags Shetland politics into the mire.
Gordon Harmer
According to the word of Robin” EVERY council in Scotland is facing cuts with a lot more to come, as you’ll soon find out with Ozzys upcoming
Tory budget, £12 Billion savings for this year alone, which in turn, will be a reduction of Scotland’s Block grant, thus a reduction to COSLA, thus a reduction to every council in Scotland”.
Typical SNP lack of accountability and blame someone else tactics.
Robin likes to shout about more powers for Scotland, yet is very tight lipped about a substantial new tool available to the Scottish government. Since April the SNP have had the right to borrow up to£2,2 billion to fund spending from the national loans fund, banks or by issuing bonds.
Robin frequently rattles on about anti austerity drive which would mean more borrowing, but when given the chance to max out on their own credit card Robin and the SNP are bizarrely reluctant. Could this be something to do with the fact that debts will not be underwritten by Westminster, or is it something to do with an adverse credit rating damaging the nationalists financial credibility?
If the nats put their money where their mouths are cuts like the above would not happen and poverty could be given a bit of a kicking.
John Tulloch
No, James Watt, I was unable to comment on Carmichael’s admission because I had believed his original account and needed to check the facts surrounding it before making any comments about his future. I trust all others have done the same.
The SNP’s behaviour in Shetland, however, is well-known to me.
I was immediately struck by and felt bound to comment on the pious humbug of people like your pal, the troll Stevenson who, incidentally, feels no pressure to withhold threats when he ‘loses it’, Mike MacKenzie and Danus Skene, who are comfortable with deceiving Shetland voters about the systematic under-funding of Shetland’s education system by £10 Mpa under an arrangement agreed betwen COSLA and the SNP Scottish Government in 2008. They must be worred sick about this before they’ve called you in again to try and fend me off! Carmichael’s behaviour is indefensible – and so is theirs, they should all go, NOW!
Dr JM Mackintosh
Carmichael should call a by-election and stand again to face the judgement of the electorate.
Would he have won if this information had come out before the election as the civil service had suggested it would?
He lied to smear the FM of our country, he lied to cover up the lie, he instigated an inquiry which cost £1.4m. It was a complete abuse of his power as SoS for Scotland.
Are you happy up in Shetland with this man as your MP for the next five years?
Personally, I do not think he will resign and neither will Willie Rennie who knew what was happening as he was the first point of contact for the press once the story broke.
So it will be up to you to decide whether the Lib-Dem Party are morally fit to be your representatives in the Scottish Parliament next year.
I know which way I would vote – we removed a Lib-Dem MP from our seat on May 7th and I am now very proud of that fact.
Robin Stevenson
Westminster lap dog Carmichael, should have done the honourable thing and resigned while he was the Secretary of State for Scotland, he has lied to the government, he has lied to the Scottish government, he has lied to the French ambassador, but most of all, he has lied to the people of Shetland and Orkney, and stood for election knowing full well of his deceit.
Nicola Sturgeon has said:
“Alistair Carmichael has written to me accepting that the account of my conversation with the French Ambassador was not correct, and apologising for what was a blatant election dirty trick in having it leaked.
“I accept his apology, but the real issue is that he should be apologising to the people of Orkney and Shetland, because he clearly contested the election on false pretences.
Go NOW Alistair.
Ali Inkster
Just like salmond and Sturgeon resigned when they lied about getting legal advice on an independent Scotlands position in the EU. How much did that enquiry cost Wrobin?
Gordon Harmer
“This memo is 100% untrue”, said Ms Sturgeon, when responding to the allegation that she had previously said to the French Ambassador that Mr Miliband was “not Prime Ministerial material” and that she “would prefer if Mr Cameron returned a majority”.
Now that Alistair Carmichael has admitted the memo came from his office, all hell has broken loose in Ms Sturgeon’s camp, in a flurry of activity to fire up the damage limitation machine.
Ms Sturgeon said today, “Mr Carmichael said at the time that the first he was aware of this matter was when he received a call from a journalist, but we now know that this is simply untrue. The false memo was leaked by a special adviser acting under the authority of Mr Carmichael. He knew all about it, but said in public that he knew nothing until a journalist phoned him. As well as the original dirty trick, which was bad enough, Mr Carmichael then tried to cover it up and is only admitting it now because he got caught”.
Everybody should note Ms Sturgeon’s language here. “False memo”, “this memo is 100% untrue” and “dirty trick”. This is Ms Sturgeon simply assuming she has the upper hand regarding this matter, after Mr Carmichael issued an apology.
In fact, inconveniently for Ms Sturgeon, the official inquiry, which Ms Sturgeon is using to her advantage, not only stated that Mr Carmichael could and should have stopped the sharing of the memo, but that the memo was recorded accurately.
So, regardless of Ms Sturgeon seeking to make political capital concerning Mr Carmichael’s acceptance of responsibility, she is willfully distancing herself from the other findings of the official inquiry, namely, that officially, Ms Sturgeon has been found to be lying. Oh dear. Quell surprise.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/nicola-sturgeon/11624267/Nicola-Sturgeon-memo-recorded-accurately-official-inquiry-finds.html
Keith Harrison
So you are suggesting that the Daily Telegraph (who uncritically printed the original leak and are therefore not wholly neutral in the matter) are right and that when Alistair Carmichael says that the memo was inaccurate (in his apology to Ms Sturgeon) he is lying again? Some people just do not learn…
Wow: how deep does this rabbit hole go?
Joe Gordon
If the memo was 100% true, why did Alastair Carmichael state in his letter to Nicola Sturgeon that there content of the memo was not accurate?
Robert Sim
@Gordon – can we please stick to the facts? You say: “Now that Alistair Carmichael has admitted the memo came from his office…” – but we have known from day one that the memo came from Carmichael’s office. The issue is about him authorising the leak of an internal document to the media in an attempt to damage a political opponent during an election campaign; telling an untruth about his knowledge of the leak; and overall wasting public time and money in an official enquiry.
You then go on to say that: “…inconveniently for Ms Sturgeon, the official inquiry… stated that… the memo was recorded accurately.” However it is my understanding from the media that the unnamed civil servant involved believed the memo to be an “accurate record” of the conversation between himself and M Coffinier but that “part of the conversation between the French Ambassador and the First Minister might well have been ‘lost in translation'”. Readers will draw their own conclusions as to the accuracy of the memo.
Dave Sneddon
Gordon. Just because the memo was accurately recorded doesn’t make its contents 100% true. The fact that the French officials and Ms Sturgeon have denied the content backs up this assertion. The person who noted the memo may have got the translation wrong at best or was being purely malicious at worst.
The culprits here are the author and the man who decided to spread the muck – nothing more or nothing less.
Steve Black
Sounds more like the official report has taken the word of a civil servant and his chums over the 2 people involved in the conversation and the advisor to the French Ambassador who reported to the UK civil servant.
I would rather believe the people who were there than the memo written on 3rd or 4th hand info thanks.
Gordon Harmer
What I am saying, while definitely not condoning what Mr Carmichael has done is an inquiry into the leak by Sir Jeremy Heywood, the Cabinet Secretary, defended the civil servant who wrote the memo. It said; “senior officials who have worked with him say that he is reliable and has no history of inaccurate reporting, impropriety or security lapses. “The Cabinet Secretary has concluded that there is no reason to doubt that he recorded accurately what he thought he had heard. There is no evidence of any political motivation or ‘dirty tricks’.
Robin Stevenson
Gordon, don’t be so naive, what do you expect them to say??
“The Cabinet Secretary has concluded that there is no reason to doubt that he recorded accurately what he thought he had heard”.
What a ridiculous statement, he could just as easily have said whatever the hell he wanted, and the cabinet minister would have had to come away with exactly the same meaningless statement.
Gordon Harmer
Robin by your own argument and naivety Sturgeon could have said what he claimed he heard. Its his word against hers and the fact the French are staying silent is ominous in the extreme. Nothing from the man who was there just a statement which could have been taken any which way from and underling. By the way do you have an alter ego by the name of David McDowell, Hmmm.
Sandy McMillan
Alistair Carmichael, Should resign now or face the electorate, If not Mr Skene should be voted in, He says his priority is for the Northern Isles, what a lot of BULL, Lies and propaganda seems to be built in to politicians.
John Tulloch
Sandy,
You’re an influential fellow and you obviously think Danus Skene and the SNP are ok.
Next time you see Danus in Bolts or Jim Taylor’s, ask him why he won’t speak about Shetland-specific issues.
You see, the “per pupil” funding of education is a big advantage to big cities and densely-populated areas and it’s causing the SIC £10 million a year from their oil reserves, AFTER they cut education spending by £10 million.
That’s why your Sooth Lochside public lavvy closed.
Robin Stevenson
All education and council budgets are cut, and to be cut further to the tune of £12 Billion this year John, Danus is NOT your MP or your MSP, S&O funding “Per pupil” is the highest in Scotland, IF your toilets closed why don’t you ask SIC why??…simply because it has NOTHING to do with the Scottish government, as this is a devolved matter?…Surely you knew this, or are you just playing dumb?
Gordon Harmer
Frozen Council Tax Robin, frozen Council Tax.
Robin Stevenson
What’s wrong with “frozen council tax” then Gordon? £1200 pa saving for the least well off throughout Scotland? £100 per month saving for pensioners and those that have to rely on foodbanks or those on minimum wage?…Small businesses saving £1200 per year?…yes please and I’m very thankful it’s been going on for eight years thanks to the SNP…long may it continue.
Malcolm Smith
I can see no reason why any constituent or community would want to be represented by Alistair Carmichael!
What he did has unexpectedly backfired on him big time. The fact that he didn’t have the decency to admit his guilt, that would have save the public the expense of an investigation, shows this man is not fit to represent anyone in Westminster!!
The man is a disgrace, but it’s partly up to the people of Shetland to decide his fate, if he refuses to stand down!
He’s kept a more worthy candidate out of a seat!
Derek Spence
This was not “clearly an error of judgement”, this was clearly a deliberate, calculated and risk assessed act, aimed at the vilification of an “opponent”. A £1.5m investigation has been conducted at the taxpayer’s expense, all because he denied knowledge of the leak. Standing down would only be the first tiny step he can make to any recovery of credibility.
Peter Buchanan
Surely the good people of Orkney and Shetland do not wish to spend the next five years represented by a blatant liar?
No matter your personal politics this is utterly disgraceful.
There is a very good chance of course that the lib dems would win if a by election were called , at least then democracy will have been fairly done without smears and lies.
Lib dems claim to stand for decency , fairness and integrity. How can even the most diehard libdem voter possibly defend this man?
He has shamed his constituency , his party and his supporters
Michael Garriock
Why bother calling for a resignation, it would amount to no more than re-arranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. If someone else replced him they’d be no different, a politician with integrity is an unemployable politician.
Far better the devil we know than the un-found out one.
I didn’t vote LibDem a fortnight ago, but I might well just do so if there was a re-run, for no other reason than Carmichael has now given us a reason to suspect that he’s willing to mix it with the big boys and girls.
Martin Banks
This has to be the most stupid and morally vacuous comment I have ever read. A man (and MP) lies and blemishes someone else’s character across the entire UK, attempts to influence a democratic election in the process, knowingly allows 1.4 million pounds of public money to be used to find out the story was false, embarrassingly involves a French diplomat into the proceedings making us look like a pack of political animals and you, you think this is a GOOD reason to vote for him. In any other sphere this would be criminal (and actually may be here too). Just how much sense of admiration would you feel for someone who did it to you?
Martin Banks
This has to be the most morally vacuous comment I have ever read. A man (and MP) lies and blemishes someone else’s character across the entire UK, attempts to influence a democratic election in the process, knowingly allows 1.4 million pounds of public money to be used to find out the story was false, embarrassingly involves a French diplomat into the proceedings making us look like a pack of political amateurs and you think this is a GOOD reason to vote for him. In any other sphere this would be criminal (and actually may be here too). Just how much sense of admiration would you feel for someone who did it to you?
Robin Stevenson
I couldn’t agree more martin, I’m simply Gobsmacked at those that wish to defend Alistair Carmichael’s tenuous position, looks like he’ll have to be pushed rather than do the “honourable” thing and resign, while he maybe “the honourable gentleman”, perhaps he should have looked the term up and found the true meaning of the word “honourable”?
Michael Garriock
Morals, in case you haven’t noticed, along with numerous other desirable, if not arguably essential character traits vital to competently fulfilling the role of public office, appear to mysteriously vanish the second any individual aspires to hold said office.
There is a certain cute attractiveness, but nevertheless also extremely worrysome dread to witness such apprent naiviety, as would seem to be suggested by folk apprently believing the UK political machine is anything but rotten to its core and every fibre of its being.
I am not defending Carmichael, frankly I’m entirely indifferent to what he may or may not do. I just completely fail to see the point of all the Hoo Ha over what amounts to a small bit player on the peripheries of the system, in every sense of the word, playing the game by exactly the same rules as all the other players.
“Honour” in politics, in case you hadn’t noticed, passed away quietly as a result of total neglect many, many years ago.
Alan Skinner
My apologies. I voted for Alistair Carmichael, on a purely personal basis and not because of any support for Lib-Dem policies, because I thought he was a personable and straightforward character, and a decent local MP. The current situation demonstrates that I was completely wrong. There is no doubt in my mind that, if today’s facts had been known before the election, he would have badly lost the election. He should resign immediately because he is in Westminster under false pretences.
Alan Skinner
New House
Cullivoe
Yell
Colin Moss
There’s a serious point here, however, which flows logically from his confession.
The reality is that nobody in Orkney or Shetland can now trust a single word he says, on anything.
Any and every cause he takes up, every group he speaks to, every press statement he makes will be viewed through the prism of his being a self-confessed liar and obvious buffoon.
All industries and inhabitants of those beautiful island chains are effectively without any representation in Westminster now, and the inaction of his party over it will weaken their already limited voice in Holyrood. The local MSPs are weakened by this and will have it thrown at them repeatedly over the next year.
He has damaged these islands more by this than almost anything you could imagine.
It takes a coward to lie but a brave man to resign once caught.
clivemunro
Or, Gordon, for a more balanced picture people could read the following in today’s Glasgow Herald. http://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/wider-political-news/carmichael-urged-to-stand-down-as-mp-after-accepting-responsibility-fo.126957436
Graham Bradbury
£1.4 million… £1.4 MILLION… That’s how much that plank Carmicheal has cost us taxpayers with his lie! He should do the honourable thing and resign! He is nothing short of a disgrace!
Gordon Harmer
What really gets to me with this is the witch hunt by the baying hounds that smell blood is very selective when it comes to politicians who tell lies. I remember during the indy referendum in a post on the Scottish National Party’s website, Mr Swinney said: ‘The Scottish government has had technical discussions with the Bank of England regarding out proposal for a currency union and we welcome their continued acknowledgment that the bank will introduce whatever the politicians decide’. But in a humiliating rebuke, the Bank of England said: ‘To be clear the Bank of England has not entered into discussions with representatives of the Scottish government about proposals for future monetary arrangements in Scotland.’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2725311/Bank-denies-talks-Scotland-pound-senior-minister-claimed-discussions-currency-union.html
In the same campaign Alex Salmond was accused of deliberately misleading Scots about an independent Scotland’s EU status after European governments rejected his claim in a major TV interview that he has consulted them. The First Minister told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show that he had spoken to the Spanish, French, Italians and Belgians about his assertion that a separate Scotland would start life in the EU. He repeated his claim that Scotland would not need to apply from scratch and would instead negotiate entry between a Yes vote and actual separation in March 2016. But Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo, the Spanish Foreign Minister rejected Mr Salmond’s version of events, telling the Telegraph that he had not even spoken to the SNP leader in two years. http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/top-stories/scottish-independence-snp-s-20k-eu-court-battle-1-3133692 These claims were backed up by Ms Sturgeon; three senior SNP politicians telling the Scottish electorate porkies and no chest thumping baying mob to be seen, where were you all?
Shuard Manson
And if the boot was on da iddir fit, Mr Harmer never ever exploit it for his ain benefit…..whit a pleeps o….
Gordon Harmer
I didn’t quite get that Shuard, I don’t speak Klingon, and I’ve been called worse than that by better 🙂
Dave Sneddon
MP for Dundee East Stewart Hosie has asked the standards commissioner to investigate and she’s likely to refer it to the standards committee.
If that committee agree with Stewart Hosie’s assertion and Carmichael is suspended from the Commons for 10 days or more, then 10% of his constituents will be able to force a by-election by signing a petition.
If the forced by-election comes to pass then this would most certainly be an extremely ironic twist, being that this constitutional gem happens to be one of Nick Clegg’s better ideas from his time in coalition govenment.
John Tulloch
Here’s an excerpt from the Scottish MSPs’ Code of Conduct:
“2.3 The Scottish electorate has a high expectation of members of the Scottish Parliament and the way in which they should act in their relationships with their constituents and in the Parliament. Members must meet those expectations by ensuring that their conduct is above reproach and worthy of the trust of the electorate.
2.4 The word “Integrity” is inscribed on the mace which is a symbol of the authority of the Parliament; it is one of a number of principles which must be observed in all that members do.’
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/msps/16182.aspx
It’s quite clear from Messrs Skene and MacKenzie’s behaviour regarding the systematic under-funding of Shetland’s education system since 2008, that neither of them has fulfilled the requirements of the Code.
If there is a rerun of the election, Skene should not stand and MacKenzie should step down as H&I List MSP.
Robin Stevenson
Do you mind if we take a look at some of the Parliament codes of conduct then? just to insure that Mr Carmichael is doing what he’s paid to do.
5. Members have a duty to uphold the law, including the general law against discrimination.
6. Members have a general duty to act in the interests of the nation as a whole; and a special duty to their constituents.
7. Members should act on all occasions in accordance with the public trust placed in them. They should always behave with probity and integrity, including in their use of public resources
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cmcode/1076/107602.htm
Ooh!…Btw…Mr Skeane is neither an MP or an MSP incidentally, so I’m not quite sure what he’s supposed to do whilst NOT being in power?
John Tulloch
Absolutely no problem with you ‘throwing the book’ at Mr Carmichael or any other MP or MSP, Robin. Fire you away, I’ll do the same.
I supported Alistair because of his strong track record as an MP for Shetland and I’m bitterly disappointed by news of his extraordinary aberration. I cannot and will not, try to defend the indefensible.
The thing which his and Messrs MacKenzie’s and Skene’s behaviour over education funding emphasises to me is the urgent need for a new pro-Shetland political party or group that can hold both the SNP Scottish Government and the SIC to account.
John Tulloch
You’re right, Mr “Skeane” (sic) isn’t an MP or MSP. However, he has ‘high hopes’, and one would have ‘hoped’ he would have demonstrated having those essential qualities, at least, during the period of his candidacy.
In the event he failed, signally, to live up to them.
Robin Stevenson
Tis a strange thing about yourself John, on one hand we have you open minded and fair, and on the other, we have you blinkered into believing whatever the latest press release is from our London based media?
Perhaps if you opted for debate rather than vitriolic lecture we could both come away enlightened?
iantinkler
£1.4 million… £1.4 MILLION… Just why did this investigation cost £1.4 million. How can it cost so much to answer a few simple questions? Were all the statements written on 24K gold foil. I do not care much for any of the protagonists, but whoever managed to spend £1.4 million should be suspended by the round objects and shot!!!