IN between visits to Buckingham Palace, Alistair Carmichael is munching eagerly on a chicken sandwich, reflecting on a 72-hour whirlwind since replacing Michael Moore as Scottish Secretary.

 

Sitting in a tiny room in his old haunt of the Liberal Democrat whips' office, he says: "Having had a backroom job for the last three years I had forgotten how much I enjoyed this. I'm really fired up."

Seated around the new addition to the UK Cabinet are not one but three aides, suggesting they are not yet sure about his skills in avoiding media elephant traps.

While clearly excited by his promotion, there is regret it came at the expense of his "old pal".

Questions about what he will bring to the Scottish Secretaryship that Mr Moore did not evoke a defensive response. "Michael did absolutely nothing wrong," he declares, stressing how the difficult transition had been made easier by the "gracious, positive way" his colleague had approached it.

It seems clear 48-year-old Mr Carmichael knew about the change at the Scotland Office days in advance. He says as the party's Chief Whip he withdrew from Nick Clegg's reshuffle process as soon as he realised "I was featuring in it".

When he eventually received the leader's phone call while on a trip to Cornwall on Friday evening, the news "did not come completely out of the blue".

Asked about his image as a bruiser, the Carmichael eyes roll. "Okay, I'm happy with robust. But there has been all this stuff about being a bruiser, about being combative. I know you guys like to paint in primary colours but, honestly, I have been here for 12 years. People know I have a bit more light and shade than that. Of course, I'm not going to take any nonsense from anybody, but there is a world of differ- ence between that and going out and picking fights unnecessarily."

He insists he will not try to "out-Salmond Salmond" and is determined not to get into a political street fight with the First Minister.

Stressing how his focus will be on getting about campaigning, talking to as many folk as possible across Scotland, Mr Carmichael is adamant he wants to de-personalise the campaign and focus on the issues, believing the pro- independence arguments are "exceptionally weak".

"I have no interest in doing what Alex Salmond does because, quite apart from anything else, it is not working. We are the people who are ahead in the opinion polls at the moment. We have got there by relying on analysis based on hard fact rather than just assertion and supposition."

But given the Coalition's reasonableness strategy has been working, why change key personnel now? The MP for Orkney and Shetland huffs his annoyance and comes the nearest to commenting directly on the reason for the change at Dover House when asked if his appointment is a gamble.

"There are going to be gambles in changing; there would be risks attached to not changing. That, frankly, was not my decision and I stepped back from that whole process the second it was apparent I was featuring in it. Other people have assessed these risks and here I am as a result."

He says the No camp is in "a good spot" at present in the opinion polls but suspects the undecideds are not as undecided as they make out, explaining: "The case for the head is clear. There is an appeal that we can make to the heart and we have got to go out and do that and we are not going to leave that part of the pitch to the Nationalists."

Asked if the campaign will get nasty, he replies: "I fear it will be divisive. When we launched the Better Together campaign in Orkney, there was a comment about the Quisling community of Orkney. That language is disgraceful and it has no place in the civilised political debate. If I find anybody over whom I have any measure of control at all using it then I will stamp on it ... because sometimes you have to be prepared to bruise and I just wish more people would take the same approach."

And asked if David Cameron is help or a hindrance to the No campaign, the Scottish Secretary at first laughs and then swiftly adds: "For the PM to be in Scotland, to talk about the things we can do as part of the UK does bring an enormous campaigning asset to the No campaign."

A little earlier, the Lib Dems' frontbencher was at Buckingham Palace for the start of the 2014 Commonwealth Games Baton Relay where he met, among others, Mr Salmond.

"We had a very brief chit-chat and a friendly shake of the hands. Nobody was bruised at the end of it," he adds.