Judge in Carmichael election case was former SNP activist

ONE of the election court judges deciding whether shamed MP Alistair Carmichael should keep his Westminster seat over the leaked memo row was previously an active member of the SNP.

Scotland’s last Lib Dem MP is awaiting a ruling from two senior judges, who must decide if he broke electoral rules when he claimed he knew nothing about a leaked memo suggesting Nicola Sturgeon would prefer to see David Cameron remain as Prime Minister at the last General Election.

He faces losing his Orkney and Shetland seat if found guilty of breaking electoral rules. But yesterday it emerged one of the judges who has to decide, Lord Hugh Matthews, 61, was an SNP branch convener and constituency treasurer and has even spoken at SNP conference and provided the party with legal advice.

Lawyers in the case were alerted to his background on July 22, two weeks after he replaced Lord Eassie on the election court rota.

In July, a court service clerk emailed lawyers acting in the case to explain the judge’s SNP connection. It read: ‘Lord Matthews has today instructed me to advise parties of

Mr Carmichael, left, and Lord Matthews his previous involvement with the SNP’ and confirmed that his involvement in politics ‘necessarily came to an end’ only when he was first appointed to the bench, as a sheriff in Glasgow, in 1997.

It concluded: ‘Could parties please confirm, as soon as possible that there are no objections to his Lordship sitting on 7 and 8 September?’

Neither side objected and the Lib Dems said they have complete confidence in Lord Matthews.

Mr Carmichael was hauled to the court over a leaked memo of comments allegedly made by Miss Sturgeon to the French ambassador, Sylvie Bermann. He admitted authorising the leak and lying about his part until after the election in court last week.

The shamed MP revealed that he waited five days until after his re-election to come clean and had initially planned to hide his role in the leak.

He admitted his behaviour ‘fell south’ of acceptable standards for a minister.

But former Scottish Lib Dem leader Tavish Scott said the legal bid to unseat him was a ‘political show trial’ designed to ensure there is no opposition to the SNP in Scotland. Four of Mr Carmichael’s constituents brought the case against him under the Representation of the People Act 1983, arguing he misled voters when telling Channel 4 news that the first he knew of the leak was when a journalist called him up to ask about it.

Lord Matthews and Lady Paton heard four days of evidence last week and are now considering their verdict. No time-frame has been set for when a decision is due.

A spokesman for the Judicial Office for Scotland said: ‘Many judges will have been involved in politics before taking up judicial office. Lord Matthews declared his previous involvement to both parties prior to the commencement of proceedings.’

A spokesman for the Lib Dems added that the party had ‘absolute confidence in the neutrality of Lord Matthews’.