A civil service inquiry into a leaked memo which claimed Nicola Sturgeon privately wanted to see David Cameron remain in power after the General Election has been instigated following calls from the First Minister.
Ms Sturgeon described the allegation as “100% untrue” and accused Whitehall of “dirty tricks”.
She wrote to Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood to demand a probe into how the account of her conversation with the French ambassador was obtained by the Daily Telegraph.
Sir Jeremy confirmed he has ordered a “Cabinet Office-led leak inquiry” to establish how the material got into the public domain.
The memo was written by a British civil servant following a conversation with consul-general Pierre-Alain Coffinier regarding a meeting between Ms Sturgeon and ambassador Sylvie Bermann, who was on her first visit to Scotland in February.
According to a copy published on the Daily Telegraph website, it said: “Discussion appears to have focused mainly on the political situation, with the FM stating that she wouldn’t want a formal coalition with Labour; that the SNP would almost certainly have a large number of seats … that she’d rather see David Cameron remain as PM.”
The note went on to say that Ms Sturgeon had said she did not think Labour leader Ed Miliband was “prime minister material”.
French officials said Ms Sturgeon did not express a preference for prime minister.
The First Minister said: “This story has already been shown to be 100% untrue – having been comprehensively rejected by both the French ambassador and Consul General.
“The real issue is how a second hand and inaccurate account of this meeting – which was not even attended by the UK Government – came to be written by a UK Government civil servant and then leaked to Tory-supporting newspapers at the start of a General Election campaign.
“It suggests a Whitehall system out of control – a place where political dirty tricks are manufactured and leaked. And the Foreign Office now appears to be denying the very existence of such a document.”
Speaking after giving a speech at an anti-Trident rally, Ms Sturgeon added: “I’m happy to see if we can publish (a minute of the meeting) because that will absolutely vindicate my version of events.
“But roll back from this a little bit here, there should no longer be any questions to me about whether I’ve said these things. Not only have I said I didn’t say them, the person I was having the conversation with said I didn’t say them.
“That fact that I am still being asked these questions is completely missing the point here.
“The point is, who in the UK Government put together this inaccurate account and who gave it to the Daily Telegraph.”
Sir Jeremy said: “I can confirm that earlier today I instigated a Cabinet Office-led leak inquiry to establish how extracts from this document may have got into the public domain.
“Until that inquiry is complete I will not be making any further comment either on the document or the inquiry.”
The leaked memo dominated the sixth day of the election campaign.
Labour leader Ed Miliband described it as a “damning revelation” that the SNP was saying one thing in public and another in private, which he said made clear that the only way for Scottish voters to get the Conservatives out of office was to vote Labour.
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said: “Nicola Sturgeon can issue all the denials she likes but the truth is that many Scots will be nodding along in agreement. David Cameron is clearly the best candidate for Prime Minister and Ed Miliband clearly isn’t up the job. If that’s Nicola Sturgeon’s private view, I’m happy to say in public that I agree with it.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said: “The First Minister might deny reports of her tete a tete with the French but we all know a Conservative-only government is the result of this election that the SNP want to see. A Tory PM governing alone in Downing Street and veering to the right fuels nationalist fires back home.
“Despite her fluffy, positive words about working with the rest of the UK we know what she really thinks. Her sole ambition is to break up the UK.”
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