News / Carmichael loses bid to claw back legal fees
THE COURT of Session has rejected an attempt by Alistair Carmichael to claw back his legal costs from the petitioners who unsuccessfully sought to have his election as Northern Isles MP overturned.
The Liberal Democrat had been seeking to have his estimated £155,000 costs reimbursed by the ‘Orkney Four’ who took legal action after it emerged that Carmichael had lied about his role in the leaking of a confidential memo about Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
In December the Court of Session ruled that, while the MP had told a “blatant lie” for his own political advantage, he had not breached the 1983 Representation of the People Act.
On Monday, after hearing legal arguments from both sides about who should bear the financial burden for the costly case, Lady Paton said: “In all the circumstances, exercising our discretion, we consider this to be in effect a case with divided success.
“Accordingly, we find no expenses due to or by any party.”
The action came after a Cabinet Office inquiry, reporting shortly after last May’s general election, revealed Carmichael had authorised his special advisor Euan Roddin to leak the contents of the memo to the Daily Telegraph.
The memo wrongly claimed that Sturgeon had told the French ambassador that she would prefer to see David Cameron remain as UK Prime Minister.
In a Channel 4 News interview prior to the election Carmichael falsely claimed he had only become aware of the memo’s existence when contacted about it by a journalist.
A crowdfunding page set up by the Orkney Four has succeeded in raising the £208,000 needed to cover their estimated legal expenses.
On Monday afternoon it had exceeded that target by almost £2,000, though petitioner Tim Morrison said they still do not know precisely what the final bill will be.
A similar page set up by Liberal Democrat supporter Sheila Ritchie has so far raised £14,260 towards Carmichael’s costs.
Carmichael said on Monday afternoon: “Having won the case, this ruling is disappointing. However, the court has absolute discretion in these matters. We will now consider how these costs will be met.
“As has been the case since I was elected, my focus will remain serving the people of Orkney and Shetland at parliament to the best of my ability.”
Responding to the ruling Morrison, said: “This feels like vindication by the Election Court. We lost the case, but it is clear that we were seen to have acted in the public interest.
“We did not do this. Over 10,000 people did. We cannot thank them enough.”
Morrison added: “Mr Carmichael is discredited. The size of his fund shows how little support he had. He should go.”
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