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'Tommy Sheridan' (born 7 March 1964, in Glasgow) is a Scottish socialist politician - leading figure in the Scottish political party Solidarity.
He attended the Roman Catholic schools of St Monica's Primary and Lourdes Secondary before entering the University of Stirling, from which he graduated with an honours degree in Economics.
Sheridan was active in the Militant tendency faction inside the Labour Party, before leaving Labour as a member of Scottish Militant Labour (SML). He was a leading campaigner against the poll tax in Scotland, and was jailed for six months for trying to stop a warrant sale. He has also been jailed twice as a consequence of his activities campaigning against the presence of the nuclear fleet at Faslane Naval Base. In 2006 he won a libel action against the ''News of the World''. In October 2006, Sheridan claimed that MI5 are behind some of the allegations made against him.[1]
Political career
Militant tendency
Sheridan was a prominent member of the Militant tendency whilst a student at Stirling University. After graduating he went to Cardonald College as a typing student as part of an (unsuccessful) effort on the part of Militant to recruit Scottish Labour Students in further-education colleges. The Labour Party leadership under Neil Kinnock was determined to remove any member of the Militant tendency and Sheridan himself was expelled from the Labour Party in 1989.
As the highest profile Militant member in Scotland, Sheridan was a leading figure in the group's split in the early 1990s. He was emboldened by the success of the campaign against the poll tax; many Militant members - particularly in Scotland - argued for the abandonment of entryism and for the creation of Scottish Militant Labour and Militant Labour in England and Wales as separate political parties.
The argument was resolved in favour of those who backed Sheridan's arguments and this led to a split in the Militant, with a minority supporting the opposition of Ted Grant to the "Scottish Turn". However, the momentum of the Scots was such that eventually Scottish Militant Labour argued in favour of founding a new, left-wing political party, known initially as the Scottish Socialist Alliance, with supporters of the Committee for a Workers International (the International founded by Militant) as a faction within it. The SSA was formed and in 1998 became the SSP, but the CWI faction led by Sheridan, the International Socialist Movement, ultimately broke with the CWI. A minority of the ISM decided to remain with the CWI and formed their own faction, the International Socialists, which remained as a small faction within the SSP until they broke from it to join Solidarity in August 2006.
Sheridan fought two elections while in prison. He took second place in the Pollok constituency at the 1992 General Election, finishing ahead of both the Conservatives and the Scottish National Party. A few weeks later he won the Pollok ward on Glasgow City Council. He contested the European Parliament election in 1994 as the SML candidate in Glasgow, and came third with 8%.
Scottish Socialist Party
Role in the Scottish Socialist Party
Tommy Sheridan was a leading figure in the negotiations to establish the Scottish Socialist Alliance in 1996, which evolved into the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) in 1998. He was elected to the Scottish Parliament in 1999 as a Glasgow representative.
He was the convenor of the SSP from its formation until November 11 2004, when he resigned, citing as a prime reason his wife Gail expecting their first child.[2]
At the annual conference of the SSP in early 2005 Sheridan was elected to the SSP executive and at the March 2006 conference he was elected as co-chair, along with Morag Balfour.
Sheridan announced that he was leaving the SSP in August 2006, after his prominent court-case victory.
Resignation from convenorship
The resignation of Tommy Sheridan from the SSP was steeped in controversy. After his announcement that he was stepping down for family reasons, the ''News of the World'' ran a series of articles, among other allegations claiming that he had had an extra-marital affair. Sheridan strenuously denied the accusations and quickly announced his intention to sue.
As part of their defence the ''News of the World'' demanded that the Scottish Socialist Party hand over all documents related to the executive committee immediately prior to Tommy Sheridan's resignation. The Executive Committee of the party declined and publicly requested that Sheridan withdraw the court case. On refusing to hand over the documents, Alan McCombes, the party's policy co-ordinator, was found in contempt of court and jailed for 12 days, while the Scottish Socialist Party offices and McCombes' private home were raided by Messengers at Arms. The following National Council supported a request by Sheridan that the minutes, which were still confidential outwith the executive committee, be handed over to the court at the earliest possible opportunity and voted to give him "full political support" in his libel action.
During the court case the minutes of the meeting were made public. The minutes included a discussion about a recent article in the ''News of the World'' which alleged that a married MSP had visited a swingers' club in Manchester, and also the admission by Sheridan
"that he had in fact visited the club on two occasions, in 1996 and 2002 with close friends. He acknowledged that this had been reckless behaviour and had, with hindsight, been a mistake... his strategy was to deny the allegations". It recorded that Sheridan left the meeting early, but before leaving, "he repeated that he did not believe there was any evidence which would prove him to be lying. He did not accept that he should admit the visits to the club and felt that no-one should comment on private lives".
Tommy Sheridan claimed in court that the minute was not accurate and that he had denied visiting the swingers' club. His version of events was supported by six witnesses who had been at the meeting, though 11 witnesses who had also been at the same meeting, were called and claimed that the minute was accurate.
Controversy
In the immediate aftermath of the case, he accepted £30,000 from a tabloid for a series of features, one of which discussed his family life extensively and featured photographs of his wife and daughter, while another accused four SSP MSPs of a conspiracy to get rid of him from the convenorship and called them Scabs.
Since then he has threatened the SSP with legal action to recover donations he had made since becoming an MSP in 1999, claiming that the donations were "loans", had a grievance upheld against him by one of his staff and has removed funding from workers that he collectively employed.[3][4] The NUJ and the IWW are now in official dispute with Sheridan over his treatment of the parliamentary staff which he formerly employed,[5][6] holding a demonstration over this issue on 11 December 2006.[7]
Sheridan has accused the SSP of being part of "the mother of all stitch ups" involving not only their leadership, but also MI5 and News International.1
Solidarity Party
In September 2006 Tommy Sheridan announced the formation of a new political party in Scotland named Solidarity, with fellow MSP Rosemary Byrne co-leading.[8] Sheridan failed to be re-elected in the 2007 Holyrood election.
Defamation action
:''See main article Sheridan v News International.''
Hearings in Sheridan's defamation case against the publishers of the ''News of the World'' began in the Court of Session in Edinburgh on 4 July 2006.[9] Unusually in Scottish civil proceedings, the case was heard before a jury.
The jury heard allegations that Sheridan had visited a swingers' clubs in Manchester and had engaged in an adulterous affair with another woman.[10] Sheridan, who claims to be teetotaller, reportedly drunk champagne and consumed cocaine during an extra-marital liaison. [11] Sheridan denies drinking the champagne and the claim of substance abuse. Eleven members of the SSP's executive committee testified that he admitted to attending a swingers club with women in an Executive committee meeting,[12][13] but another four members of the SSP who were present at that Executive meeting backed Sheridan's claim that he made no such admission at that meeting.[14]
On 14 July 2006, Sheridan sacked his legal team and announced that he would represent himself following controversy over the source of a question over credit card fraud addressed to one of the witnesses.[15]
On 4 August 2006, Sheridan won his case with a majority verdict of 7 - 4 and maximum damages of £200,000.[16] The ''News of the World'' has appealed the verdict. In the ''Scottish Socialist Voice'' of August 8, a letter signed by further six leading members of the SSP claimed that Sheridan had told them that he had admitted to attending the Manchester swingers' club at an SSP Executive meeting.
The ''News of the World'' announced its intention to appeal the "perverse" decision in the immediate aftermath of the trial, and a provisional date for the hearing is set for December 2007.[17]
Hidden video
On 1 October 2006, the ''News of the World'' reignited controversy by publishing what it claimed to be new evidence in support of its accusation that Sheridan lied to the Court of Session. A transcript of what it claims is a video recording of Tommy Sheridan describes him confessing to SSP member George McNeilage, one of Sheridan's three best men at his wedding, that he visited a swingers club in Manchester twice, and that he had previously admitted this to an SSP Executive meeting, directly contradicting his and fellow MSP Rosemary Byrne's court testimonies. George McNeilage claims he secretly taped the meeting, prior to the defamation action, using a hidden camera at his home.
The transcript, and excerpts from the tape, can be found on the News of the World website.[18] The full legal implications of this evidence are not yet clear.
The newspaper has not been able to produce any images from the video showing Sheridan's face and Sheridan says the video is a fake. The ''News of the World'' claims it had four independent voice analysts confirm that the voice on the tape is that of Tommy Sheridan.[19] But in an interview for the BBC a forensic speech scientist, Peter French, said: "Experts should never say conclusively they have identified a person and this kind of evidence should never solely be used to bring a criminal trial". [20]
Sheridan then suggested that MI5, the Bush government, the SSP and Rupert Murdoch conspired to concoct the videotape to undermine his campaign for an independent socialist Scotland.[21]
Perjury probe
The conflicting evidence given during the trial resulted in the judge warning several witnesses about the implications of perjuring themselves.
On 22 August 2006, the Crown Office said it had instructed the Edinburgh procurator fiscal to examine all of the evidence given in the defamation case to see if there were grounds for a criminal investigation. On 2 October 2006 prosecutors ordered police to carry out a criminal investigation into allegations of perjury.[22]
On 21 February 2007, ''The Herald'' reported that the Crown Office had asked Lothian and Borders Police to undertake a full inquiry after receiving a preliminary report.[23] Further information about the perjury investigation was reported in the ''Sunday Herald'' on 18 March 2007.[24]
In March 2007, Sheridan claimed that his car had been bugged. He said he didn't believe MI5 were responsible. He also denied that he had been responsible for planting the device as a diversion to the mounting perjury investigation.[25]
In May 2007, it was reported that staff at Cupids Swingers Club in Manchester had told police they had been offered bribes not to cooperate with the inquiry.[26] It has also been reported that the police are investigating the possibility of witness intimidation in the case.
It is estimated that the costs of the perjury investigation may reach £500,000. [27]
Other information
With Joan McAlpine, he published ''A Time to Rage'' which chronicled the anti-poll tax movement of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Joan has since written about the young man she knew during that turbulent youthful period, with reference in particular to the libel case.
Together with Alan McCombes he published ''Imagine'', an outline of the principles of socialism.
Tommy Sheridan has a weekly Sunday morning show on Talk 107. He also stands in for weekday presenters on the Edinburgh based speech station when they are on holiday. Sheridan often speaks at political rallies and public meetings throughout Scotland.[28]
Trivia
★ A photograph of Tommy Sheridan can sometimes be seen in the house of Archie the Inventor in the popular children's TV series ''Balamory''.[29]
★ In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Sheridan juggled his political career with another of his passions, football, playing for Junior teams East Kilbride Thistle F.C., the (now defunct) Baillieston and St Anthony's F.C. in the Abercorn Central District League.
★ In 2001, Tommy Sheridan provided vocals for "Daddy dog", a single and track on the album "Popartglory" by Scottish band Jasmine Minks, released on Alan McGee's label Poptones. [30]
References
1. Sheridan accuses MI5 and Murdoch over 'mother of stitch-ups' Severin Carrell
2. Sheridan resigns as SSP leader
3. Solidarity shuns workers rights Bill Scott
4. Sheridan betrays own workers Manny Neira
5. NUJ support for 11 members at Scottish Parliament
6. NUJ Backs Dispute with Sheridan
7. Scottish Parliament Demo - 7th December
8. Sheridan unveils Solidarity party
9. Sheridan starts defamation action
10. Call girl claims Sheridan affair
11. Sheridan had an affair with former prostitute, journalist tells court John Robertson
12. Sheridan 'admitted' being in club
13. Sheridan 'admitted going to swingers' club' John Robertson
14. Sheridan ready to 'take on fight'
15. Legal counsel sacked by Sheridan
16. Sheridan victory in court battle
17. Newspaper's Tommy appeal date set
18. Some say it's too early... but Nicky was here for me
19. Sheridan rubbishes video claims
20. How accurate is voice identification?
21. Sheridan claims to be 'victim of MI5 plot' Louise Gray
22. Perjury probe over Sheridan trial
23. Sheridan perjury investigators given go-ahead for full inquiry Tom Gordon
24. Police focus on Sheridan sex trial witness Paul Hutcheon
25. Police inquiry after ‘bug’ found in Sheridan’s car
26. Paul Hutcheon "Police investigate ‘bribery’ allegation in Sheridan case", ''Sunday Herald'', c.18 March 2007. Retrieved on 3 August 2007.
27. Sheridan probe to cost taxpayer £500,000
28. Solidarity MSP Tommy Sheridan Speaking at IF Rally
29. Fantasy Island Peter Ross
30. jasmine minks Popartglory
External links
★ Solidarity Scotland Official Site
★ SSP Official Website
★ Tommy Sheridan MSP
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