Sturgeon denies claim she prefers Cameron to Miliband as PM

The Cabinet Secretary has launched an investigation into the leak of a UK government memo claiming Scotland's first minister privately backed David Cameron for prime minister.

Nicola Sturgeon demanded an inquiry after a Daily Telegraph report said the second-hand account by a UK official of a conversation between Ms Sturgeon and the French ambassador quoted the first minister as saying she would prefer Mr Cameron as prime minister over Labour leader Ed Miliband.

Sir Jeremy Heywood said on Saturday that he had instigated a Cabinet Office-led leak inquiry to establish how extracts from a Scotland Office memo may have got into the public domain.

Ms Sturgeon and French diplomats emphatically denied that she expressed any preference in the conversation, with the first minister calling the Telegraph report "categorically, 100 per cent untrue".

"It suggests a Whitehall system out of control - a place where political dirty tricks are manufactured and leaked," Ms Sturgeon said.

The story has sparked a political storm that has largely overshadowed positive media reports on Ms Sturgeon's performance in an party leaders' election debate on Thursday.

Labour, which polls say could be routed in May in Scotland by Ms Sturgeon's Scottish National party, seized on the Telegraph report.

Mr Miliband said it showed the falsity of SNP's claims to oppose Conservative government. "These are damning revelations," Mr Miliband told Sky News.

The furore over the memo is likely to fuel deep distrust between SNP supporters and backers of pro-union parties.

The Telegraph said the March memo was written by a UK official on the basis of a telephone conversation with French consul general Pierre-Alain Coffinier about a visit in February to Edinburgh by French ambassador Sylvie Bermann.

It said Ms Sturgeon confessed during the private conversation that "she'd rather see David Cameron remain as PM" and "didn't see Ed Miliband as PM material". A text of the memo released by the Telegraph also showed the UK official had doubts whether that the first minister's "tongue would be quite so loose" on such matters in such a meeting. 

"It might well be a case of something being lost in translation," the official wrote.

Mr Coffinier said he had not told the UK official that Ms Sturgeon said she preferred Mr Cameron. "It is not true that any preference was expressed regarding the outcome of the election," he said.

The Telegraph allegations are dangerous for the SNP, since the Conservatives are widely unpopular in Scotland and the party is working hard to assure voters that backing it in May would not make continued Tory rule more likely.

Ms Sturgeon on Saturday repeated her challenge to Mr Miliband to promise to join with the SNP in blocking any attempt by the Conservatives to form a government after the May 7 election.

Labour has not directly responded to the challenge, but says any vote for the SNP makes Tory rule more likely.

The Telegraph's Scottish editor Alan Cochrane said its story showed Ms Sturgeon's "stinking hypocrisy" in privately hoping for a Tory victory that would "provide the perfect breeding ground for another referendum which would, this time, see the break up of Britain".

However, SNP supporters pointed out that under Mr Cochrane the Telegraph has been a vociferous critic of the party.

In a published diary of last year's referendum Mr Cochrane cast himself as an active participant in the campaign against independence. In one case he spiked a column at the request of Alistair Darling, leader of the No campaign.

"It's not really good journalism but what the hell does journalism matter? This is much more important," Mr Cochrane wrote in his diary.

The Telegraph report came after plaudits for Ms Sturgeon after her strong performance in the seven-way TV debate on Thursday night.

Labour's future in Scotland was looking bleaker after the latest televised leaders' debate delivered no clear winner but saw Ms Sturgeon hold her own against more established Westminster politicians.

Among those praising the Scottish National party first minister was Michael Gove, the Conservative chief whip, who said she had delivered an "impressive" performance during the two-hour show, which was watched by 7.4m viewers.

Such comments prompted accusations that the Tories were "bigging up" the SNP for their own ends: most nationalist gains would be at the expense of Labour.

Additional reporting by Jim Pickard

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