Telegraph blasted on Twitter over claims Nicola Sturgeon 'prefers' David Cameron
The Daily Telegraph has been slated on Twitter after the newspaper published a story claiming that the leader of the Scottish National Party Nicola Sturgeon told a French diplomat that she would prefer that David Cameron remains in Downing Street.
The newspaper claimed to have seen an official British government memorandum which includes details of a private meeting between Sturgeon and Sylvie Bermann, the French Ambassador to the UK.
Sturgeon apparently said that she would "rather see" David Cameron win the general election because Ed Miliband is not “prime minister material”
However Sturgeon tweeted that the story was "Categorically, 100 per cent untrue," and was backed up by BBC Scotland's James Cook who said that a spokesperson for Bermann told him the conversation never took place.
.@simon_telegraph your story is categorically, 100%, untrue...which I'd have told you if you'd asked me at any point today
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) April 3, 2015
French consul general tells me that @NicolaSturgeon did not express any preference as to who should be the next UK prime minister. — James Cook (@BBCJamesCook) April 3, 2015
Following a lambasting on Twitter, The Telegraph published the full memo it claimed to have obtained from the government.
Here's how Twitter reacted:
Deleted my tweets about the Telegraph's smear story on Sturgeon. Annoyed that I bought into it. What a sorry excuse for journalism.
— David Daniels (@David_R_Daniels) April 4, 2015
.@Telegraph please note April Fools' Day is 1st not 4th April! Nicola Sturgeon secretly backs David Cameron http://t.co/7u6xVXzy5H — Isobel Freeman (@SocialistGreen) April 4, 2015
Does anybody believe anything the Telegraph says any more? > Sturgeon denies saying she wants Cameron to win election http://t.co/1hteI1y4Vq
— Frazer Howard (@FrazerHoward73) April 4, 2015