Carmichael: ‘more likely than not’ that he’ll stand again

NORTHERN Isles MP Alistair Carmichael has said it is “more likely than not” that he will seek a fifth term serving the people of Shetland and Orkney in 2020.

The Liberal Democrat made the comments in an interview with the Politics Home website published at the weekend.

Back in January 2014, the MP had speculated that the end of this parliament “might be the time, and I stress might, that I would be looking at doing something else”.

Carmichael has held the seat since 2001 and, having defeated the SNP by a narrow margin in 2015, batted off a legal case that sought to overturn his victory after he admitted lying on national TV during the campaign.

On Monday he said that he had yet to decide whether he would stand, but there was no change in his position.

“What I’ve said in the past is that, in this parliament as in ever other, I will make the decision when the time comes,” the 51-year-old said. “What I’ve said now is exactly the same.

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“Other people took from the fact that I was prepared even to talk about it, they were prepared to make certain assumptions about it. All I’ve ever said is that in every parliament every MP has to make this decision – I’m no different and there’s no difference this time around.

“Of course I’ll make the decision when the time comes, and it’s possibly just because we’ve had so much commentary from the SNP and others that this becomes a story, but in fact I’m really just saying now what I’ve said all along.”