THE government adviser who leaked the infamous Frenchgate memo against the SNP has landed a lucrative job with a political lobbying firm, the Sunday Herald can reveal.
Euan Roddin has become a “senior consultant” at London-based Champollion Political.
The company’s website offers “a full suite of services for political engagements” and says of Roddin: “With over ten years of experience working in frontline politics, Euan has built extensive communications and policy expertise working in the Scottish, Westminster and European Parliaments. He has worked for three leaders of the Liberal Democrats and was most recently a Special Adviser to cabinet ministers in the Coalition Government.”
However it omits his greatest claim to fame - the bungled leak of a misleading Scotland Office memo about Nicola Sturgeon on the eve of the 2015 general election.
Based on a conversation between a Scotland Office civil servant and the French Consul in Edinburgh, the memo claimed Sturgeon told the French Ambassador she wanted David Cameron to stay in power and Labour’s Ed Miliband was not good enough to be in Number 10.
If true, the claim would have been deeply damaging to SNP, as the First Minister was campaigning to oust Cameron and install Miliband .
The sceptical civil servant warned “something may have been lost in translation”.
However Roddin, then special adviser to LibDem Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael, took it to his boss and discussed leaking it to the press.
When the story appeared in the Daily Telegraph last April, it caused a political storm.
It was categorically denied by Sturgeon and the Ambassador, and the focus swiftly turned to who had leaked it, prompting Carmichael to lie about his involvement.
After the election, a Cabinet Office inquiry revealed Roddin leaked the memo with Carmichael’s connivance - a leak that cost Roddin his £15,500 severance pay.
Four of Carmichael’s constituents in Orkney and Shetland then took the MP to court in a failed bid to overturn his election, leaving him with a £150,000 legal bill.
Carmichael’s humiliation is well-known - two election court judges declared he had told a “blatant but simple lie” - but until now Roddin had disappeared from public view.
The Scotland Office knew last year about his new position, but only released the information last month, in the middle of the Holyrood election, when it slipped out unnoticed amid its “transparency data”.
A brief note said Roddin had left his post as special adviser in March 2015 and that the Champollion Group would be his new employer with effect from 1 June 2015.
A similar post at Champollion was advertised in 2013 with a salary of circa £50,000.
Because Roddin held a senior position, he was subject to business appointment rules designed to stop him using privileged knowledge for commercial gain.
Approving his appointment, the UK Government said: “Euan should not draw on privileged information available to him as a Crown servant. For two years from his last day of service, Euan should not become personally involved in lobbying the UK Government on behalf of his new employer.”
Champollion was set up in 2005 by Simon Buckby, a past director of Britain in Europe.
Another director, Laura Brodie, was a press officer for LibDem leader Charles Kennedy.
Its website states: “We work with MPs and peers to raise issues in Parliament, through direct engagement with the relevant people and processes, including tabling questions, at all-party groups, and at Select Committees. We closely monitor the progress of legislation, brief speakers for debates and keep all Members informed of our clients’ point of view.”
Roddin is described as leading on “both commercial and third sector accounts ranging across our media, public affairs and stakeholder activity”.
Tim Morrison, one of the Orkney Four, said: “I’m sure that all lessons have been learned and everyone is now behaving themselves.”
Contacted at Champollion yesterday, Roddin said: “I don’t want to comment.”
Managing director Estelle McCartney said: “Champollion is delighted to have Euan on the team. He brings enormous experience of the way politics and the media work and offers valuable advice to clients. His appointment was approved by the Cabinet Office in accordance with their business appointment rules, covering former members of staff and special advisers.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel