A early by election in Orkney and Shetland[ anyone.

Former Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael  may make History as the quickest MP to resign in a new parliament  due to a scandal.

 There have been calls for him  to consider his position as an MP after he admitted being behind the leak of a memo ahead of the general election.

The leak suggested the Scottish first minister wanted David Cameron to remain as prime minister.

Mr Carmichael said it was an error of judgement and he accepted "the details of the account are not correct".

First Minister Nicola  Sturgeon said it had been a "blatant election dirty trick".

The supposedly  confidential memo was published by the Daily Telegraph on 3 April as the general election campaign got under way.

It was written by a civil servant in the Scotland Office and claimed Ms Sturgeon told the French Ambassador to the UK, Sylvie Bermann, that she would prefer Mr Cameron, the leader of the Conservatives, to remain as prime minister.

The memo also claimed Ms Sturgeon said that Ed Miliband, who was then Labour's leader, was not prime minister material.

The official cabinet office inquiry into the leaking of the memo said Mr Carmichael's former special adviser Euan Roddin gave the details to the Daily Telegraph - but he had Mr Carmichael's permission to do so.

Mr Carmichael said, while he had not seen the document before it was published by the newspaper, he was "aware of its content and agreed that my special adviser should make it public".

The Lib Dem MP for Orkney and Shetland also accepted "full responsibility for the publication". wrote a rather terse leter of apology.

We can only speculate whether if it was if it had been a Tory Minister who was stil in the Cabinet or if Mr Carmichael had remained in a coalition  the truth  would have come out out?

Speaking to the BBC, Carmichael said:

 “It was something that I could have stopped and very much should have stopped. That was an error of judgment on my part, I deeply regret it, and for the consequences of that error of judgment, I’ve apologised to the first minister and to the French ambassador.“If I were still a cabinet minister at this point, I would tender my resignation; obviously the Liberal Democrats are no longer in government, so I’ve not. But I have said to the cabinet secretary that I will not accept the ministerial severance payment that is normally offered to ministers when they leave office.”

Losing their severance pay will cost Carmichael £16,876, and Roddin at least £15,500.

But should he lose his seat . He has certainly lost a great deal cod credibility and it could be argued that his real crime was not so much thew dirty tricks as lying about it and attempting to shift the Blame elsewhere.

If he did resign his seat then there would be a Byelection in the sole Scotish Liberal Democrat seat of Orkney and Shetland

General Election 2015: Orkney and Shetland[5][6][7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Alistair Carmichael	9,407	41.4	−20.6
	SNP	Danus Skene	8,590	37.8	+27.2
	Conservative	Donald Cameron	2,025	8.9	−1.6
	Labour	Gerry McGarvey	1,624	7.1	−3.5
	UKIP	Robert Smith	1,082	4.8	−1.6
Majority			817	3.6
Turnout			22,728	65.8	+7.3
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	−23.9

Could one of the defeated Scottish LibDems  be considering a return to Westminster  via a by election here 

The seat is along standing LIberal stronghold  once held by Jo Grimond  who was party leader 1956–1967 and who when asked where the nearest Railway station to his home was replied Bergen (Norway

General Election 2010: Orkney and Shetland[8][9][10][11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Alistair Carmichael	11,989	62.0	+10.5
	Labour	Mark Cooper	2,061	10.7	−3.5
	SNP	John Mowat	2,042	10.6	+0.3
	Conservative	Frank Nairn	2,032	10.5	−2.8
	UKIP	Robert Smith	1,222	6.3	+3.9
Majority			9,928	51.3
Turnout			19,346	58.5	+4.1
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	+7.0

A byelection will not be a sure victory for the SNP  so I wonder if another former Leader from the Highlands and Islands could be thinking of a spectacular come back?