Nicola Sturgeon piled the pressure on Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael yesterday over the controversial leak of a confidential memo from his department.
The first minister claimed the Liberal Democrat should “question his whole approach to politics”, after Mr Carmichael had insisted that “these things happen” during elections.
The leaked document claimed Ms Sturgeon would prefer David Cameron as prime minister over Ed Miliband, but the SNP leader has branded it “100% untrue”.
Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood has ordered an inquiry into how the note – which reported the disputed details of a discussion between Ms Sturgeon and French ambassador Sylvie Bermann – got into the public domain.
Mr Carmichael earlier confirmed the memo was written in the Scotland Office, but denied the leak was embarrassing for the government department, stating “this is the middle of an election campaign, these things happen”.
Responding to the comments while on the campaign trail yesterday, Ms Sturgeon said: “I think Alistair Carmichael really needs to question his whole approach to politics if he thinks dirty tricks and smear campaigns are just how things are done in elections.
“I take a very different view. I think elections should be a battle of positive ideas and that’s how I’ll continue to campaign.”
Ms Sturgeon called for answers from the probe as soon as possible and insisted the allegation contained within the memo has been “completely answered”.
She said: “I didn’t say what I was alleged to have said. The French Ambassador has said I didn’t say it, so that part of this story really has been dealt with and should no longer even be an issue.
“Now the questions are: who wrote this memo, how did it come to contain such an inaccuracy, but most importantly of all how did it very conveniently fall into the hands of the Daily Telegraph?
“I want answers to these questions and I want them as quickly as possible.”
Earlier, deputy SNP leader Stewart Hosie was asked several times whether he thought Mr Miliband was prime minister material.
Mr Hosie first responded: “He is leader of the Labour Party and therefore he potentially could be prime minister.”
He later added: “Of course one could see him as prime minister. He is leader of the Labour Party and therefore quite conceivably could be. Of course I could see him as prime minister.”