This is absolutely extraordinary. Even after Alistair Carmichael's grovelling apology to Nicola Sturgeon, which admits the smears made against her were totally without foundation, the Spectator are STILL idiotically trying to insist that the original story was true. This seems to be based on a simple failure to understand plain English.
This is what they're saying -
"Interestingly, the Cabinet Office has confirmed that the memo did exist and the civil servant believes it was an accurate representation of Sturgeon’s conversation...the fact that an independent investigation has shown she did say she’d prefer Cameron to be PM makes for an interesting postscript to the election."
Nope. The independent investigation shows the complete opposite of that, and bizarrely the Spectator prove that point themselves by directly quoting the relevant segment of the findings -
"He confirmed under questioning that he believed that the memo was an accurate record of the conversation that took place between him and the French Consul General, and highlighted that the memo had stated that part of the conversation between the French Ambassador and the First Minister might well have been “lost in translation”"
How difficult is this, even for a deranged right-wing rag like the Spectator? The investigation found that the conversation between the Consul-General and the civil servant who wrote the memo was accurately recorded. The conversation between Nicola Sturgeon and the Ambassador was an entirely different conversation, involving entirely different people, and the investigation reiterates that the civil servant thought the second-hand account of that conversation was "lost in translation".
How in God's name the Spectator get from there to "the independent investigation has shown she did say she’d prefer Cameron to be PM" is anyone's guess. It's the absolute polar opposite of the truth, and I look forward to it being corrected and apologised for immediately.
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ReplyDeletepopcultureprotagonists.blogspot.com
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Its also worth remembering that the only tory Mundell was also a minister at the Scottish office at the time of the leak.
ReplyDeleteIts hard to believe that he knew nothing about this being leaked, maybe someone should ask him about it.
Could we be heading towards 58 MPs at Westminster and no Lib Dems at Holyrood.
If I was wee Willie Rennie I would get my taxi full of Lib Dem MSPs and get to the Shetlands ASAP to demand Carmichael resigns to do as little further damage to the dums as possible.
From the contempt in which Mundell seems to be held by the rest of the government, I find it very easy to believe he wouldn't have been told anything about this.
DeleteOne of the reasons people knew the halfwit behind the lies was obviously Carmichael was because the fat fool couldn't resist getting wee Willie Rennie on board to smear Nicola in the Torygraph.
DeleteNeedless to say the fuckwits at the Torygraph weren't bright enough to realise how bizarre and 'convienient' it was that they had Rennie on hand with his soundbites smears when the story went out and every day afterwards.
So the truth of the matter is that Rennie owes Nicola and apology every bit as much Carmichael yet there seems to be a curious silence from the cowardly yellow tory at the moment.
Nae worries willie, we can wait, because until you DO apologise for your lies and smearing you are self-evidently as big a disgrace and an embarrassment as your incompetent chum Carmichael.
The First Minister of Scotland has called on him to resign and now his SNP opponent in the consituency says the whole thing stinks.
ReplyDeleteHe himself has admitted his behaviour was worthy of resignation!
Is there now a rule where wrongdoing in a job doesn't count because you are no longer in the job? I must have missed THAT memo!
The original vote was clearly held under false pretences.
Carmichael falsely represented himself as fit for public office. By his own admission he has failed to live up to the moral standards required of a government minister.
Are we expected to believe there is a somehow a lower moral standard for mere MPs and that people in Orkney and Shetland don't deserve that standard?
No. There must be an immediate rerun of the vote in Orkney and Shetland.
The islanders can then decide whether they want this man as their MP while in full possession of the facts.
If they decide they do want him to represent them then hell mend them.
In my opinion after this farce only an idiot would vote for him!
It stinks. And his confession comes out on a Friday afternoon on a bank holiday weekend. He's a pathetic coward. Only rabid British nationalists at the Spectator could attempt to justify his pre-election actions.
ReplyDeleteIt was already confirmed that all conversations were English.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure whether that's meant as a joke, but the point I was making is that the findings of the investigation are written in plain English, and yet the Spectator have still somehow managed to misunderstand them.
DeleteApparently Sky News were pushing the same line in their interview with Nicola Sturgeon. I did not see it myself so I will reserve judgement. In regards to the Spectator, it just shows how corrupt the MSM in the UK are, they loath the SNP and independence, and they are not even trying to hide it anymore.
ReplyDeleteThe Spectator isn't a broadcaster, so it's entitled to loathe the SNP if it wants to. What it isn't allowed to do is tell direct lies about people, which is precisely what it's done today. I didn't see the Sky News segment either, but it sounds like they were guilty of exactly the same lie. It's absolutely disgraceful.
ReplyDeleteJames, you are right about The Spectator not being a broadcaster, but it is still part of the MSM in the UK. The independence referendum and now its aftermath have shown we are up against a MSM who will willingly lie, fabricate, distort, and smear the SNP, and independence as a cause. A shocking indictment of the mainstream media in the UK.
ReplyDeleteIt's slander. But it is no longer possible for them to twist this story, the can only tell outright lies and hope they are not gong to be pursued. Certainly the MSM won't examine them.
ReplyDeleteThe Spectator,along with most of the English press are mere peddlers of propaganda on behalf of the British elite and are petrified at the prospect of real democracy breaking out in these islands.
ReplyDeleteSNP bad.......
Carmichael has admitted his despicable behaviour when he was a government minister mertied resignation. Yet, despite knowing this, he did NOT resign, but continued in office, lying about his lack of personal involvement in the release of the offending memo. This tells us that, for Carmichael, the moral rule of thumb is: if you know you are guilty but have not yet been found out, there is no need to resign! If you have not yet been found out, it is okay to lie until such times as you are found out. For a man in high public office - the UK Cabinet no less -that is a truly extraordinary lack of moral principle. Like something Francis Urquhart would believe. Imagine looking yourself in the eye knowing that is what you've become!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.change.org/p/alistair-carmichael-mp-resign-as-an-mp
ReplyDeleteLets's get this liar out before he warms his seat up.
He may think he's safe but all he did was put his party firmly back into focus. Not as a party that could be an effective opposition to the SNP, but a party of two faced liars. What left of the lib dems will reap a bitter harvest in lost MSP/MEP & Councillor seats. All for that useless specimen. If the Scottish Tories or labour in Scotland have any sense they will give this a wide berth.
ReplyDeleteI wont hold my breath waiting for an apology from a nasty Brit Nat rag.
ReplyDeleteWhat I want to know is, why do the same journalists who wanted to smear Nicola as "wanting Cameron to stay in Downing Street" then turn round after the election and jeer that the SNP is powerless and the MPs the feeble 56 because Cameron is still in Downing Street?
ReplyDeleteWhy was Nicola imagined to want that to happen, and was she mistaken or is it secretly good for the SNP after all and if so why?
Does nobody do joined-up thinking any more?
This is perhaps a slight aside, but on this morning’s “Good Morning Scotland” on BBC Radio Scotland there was some conversation re the Carmichael situation and someone - (forgive me, I didn’t catch the name) went through the reaction in today’s papers. I believe every major newspaper in the UK was mentioned along with the Scottish ones, with the glaring exception of ‘The National’. That, in conjunction with the BBC’s failure to ask someone from the SNP (3rd biggest Westminster party) onto ‘Question Time’ for two weeks running, reinforces the fact that we now have a “Biased Broadcasting Corporation”.
ReplyDeleteElfstone
What is 'interesting' about this is that people in Scotland appear to have had the innoculation against bullshit. I have argued, elsewhere, that the Scottish electorate is, perhaps, more energised and aware of this sort of stuff than our friends down South. I suppose it is the 'Referendum' dividend.
ReplyDeleteLong may it continue.