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Tommy Sheridan

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File:Tommy Sheridan Scottish Socialist Party.jpg
Tommy Sheridan

Tommy Sheridan is a Scottish socialist politician.

Born in Glasgow, on March 7, 1964, he attended Roman Catholic schools before attending the University of Stirling, from which he graduated. He 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 taking place. He has also been jailed twice as a consequence of his activities campaigning against the presence of the nuclear fleet at Faslane Naval Base.

Background

Sheridan comes from a well-known family of Irish-Scots Trotskyists from Glasgow, and was a prominent member of the Militant/RSL whilst a student at Stirling University. After graduating he went to Cardonald College as a typing student as part of the Militant/RSL (unsuccessful) drive to take-over Scottish Labour Students through building a presence in further education colleges.

As the highest profile Militant/RSL member in Scotland Sheridan was a leading figure in the split in that party in the early 1990s. Faced with a Labour Party leadership under Neil Kinnock that was determined to expel the Trotskyists and emboldened by the success of the campaign against the poll tax, many Militant/RSL members - particularly in Scotland - argued for the abandonment of entryism and the creation of Scottish Militant Labour, and Militant Labour in England and Wales as open political parties.

The argument was resolved in favour of those who backed Sheridan's arguments and Ted Grant was expelled from Militant. However the momentum of the Scots was such that eventually Scottish Militant Labour argued in favour of founding a new, broad left 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, bec ame the SSP, but the CWI faction led by Sheridan, the International Socialist Movement ulitmately broke with the CWI with a minority deciding to remain with the CWI and forming their own faction, the International Socialists which remained as a small faction within the SSP until its dissolution in early 2006.

Sheridan fought two elections while in prison. In the Pollok constituency at the 1992 General Election he won one of the best votes for a left candidate for many years, and a few weeks later he won the Pollok ward on Glasgow City Council. He also contested the European Parliament election in 1994 as an SML candidate.

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, due to 'personal reasons' citing a desire to spend more time with his family. At the time of his announcement, his wife Gail was expecting their first child, and this was the reason Sheridan cited as being his primary motivation for resigning.

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.

Resignation and Controversy

The resignation of Tommy Sheridan from the convenorship is steeped in controversy. After his announcement to step down for family reasons, the News of the World ran a series of articles, alleging that he had had an extra-maritial affair. Sheridan strenuously denied the accusations and quickly announced his intention to sue. The executive of the Scottish Socialist Party requested that he pursued a political rather than legal response to the allegations and declined to publically back his court case.

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 publically requested that Sheridan withdraw from 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 be handed over to the court at the earliest possible opportunity and voted to give him "full political support" in his libel action.

Regardless there are a significant number of activists who feel that his court case is a misguided response to the allegations and that a political response would have been a better tactic for a socialist to take. Sheridan is also facing questions about why a copy of a motion from his own SSP branch, Cardonald, calling for documents to be destroyed appears to have come from his email address. [1] He has also been anonymously accused of abusive or intimidatory behaviour towards women.[2] [3]

Defamation Action

Hearings in the Tommy Sheridan defamation case against the publishers of the News of the World began in the Court of Session in Edinburgh on 4 July 2006. Unusually in Scottish civil proceedings, the case was heard before a jury.

The jury heard allegations that Sheridan had visited "swingers" clubs in Sheffield and Manchester and had engaged in an adulterous affair with another woman. Sheridan, who claims to be teetotal was also alleged to have drunk champagne during an extra-marital liaison. Sheridan denies these allegations.

Alison Kane, SSP Treasurer, alleged in Court that Sheridan had admitted to a party meeting that the allegations concerning his private life were true, but that the newspaper would be unable to prove them. She told the Court that the infamous minute which the party had sought to withhold had noted this. Alan McCombes, the SSP official who had previoulsy been jailed for refusing to hand over minutes of a party meeting when required to do so as part of this litigation, told the Court that Sheridan had admitted to him that he had visited swingers clubs. Sheridan admitted to a meeting of the SSP executive that he had visited Cupids in Manchester, according to the testimony of several other SSP members who were at the meeting: Colin Fox,Carolyn Leckie, Allan Green, Rosie Kane, Catriona Grant, ,Jo Harvie, Keith Baldassara and Barbara Scott.

On 14th July, 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[1]

Katrine Trolle, an SSP candidate in 2003, claimed that she had had a sexual relationship with Sheridan, which he denies.

Other Information

With Joan McAlpine, he published "A Time to Rage" which chronicled the anti-poll tax movement of the late 80s/early 90s

Together with Alan McCombes he published "Imagine" an outline of the principles of socialism updated in an accessible and readable format. He is known as an articulate and able orator and speaks at numerous public meetings throughout Scotland.

In the late 1990s, Sheridan juggled his political career with another of his passions, football, playing for junior teams East Kilbride Thistle F.C., and St Anthony's F.C. in the Abercorn Central District League.

A photograph of Tommy Sheridan can sometimes be seen in the house of Archie the Inventor in the popular children's TV series Balamory[4].

Tommy said he would support Trinidad & Tobago and Sweden in the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

References

  1. ^ Hutcheon, Paul (2006-06-04). "Call to destroy evidence in Sheridan court case was circulated from his e-mail". Retrieved 2006-07-15. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ "Letters". Weekly Worker. 627. 2006-06-01. Retrieved 2006-07-15. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ "The Missing Column: "Context Is Everything"". The Scottish Patient. 2006-05-26. Retrieved 2006-07-15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ The Sunday Herald talks to the Balamory cast and production team
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