Sheridan v News Group Newspapers Ltd
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.
Background
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
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.
Defamation Trial
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, Keith Baldassara, Jo Harvie, 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
Katrine Trolle, an SSP candidate in 2003, claimed that she had had a sexual relationship with Sheridan, which he denies.
Effect on the Scottish Socialist Party
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 withdrew from court case. In 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 were 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 felt 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. Two opposing groups have developed within the SSP as a result of this case. However the majority of the members of the SSP identify with neither group.
Scottish Socialist Party United Left
The Scottish Socialist Party United Left is a new grouping in the Scottish Socialist Party which was launched on 13 June 2006. Some see the group's formation as being an early indication of a self-initiated purge[1] from the party. However, that analysis runs counter to the content of the group's appeal, which confirms the signatories' commitment to uniting and building the SSP as a radical socialist party capable of challenging the capitalist system.
SSP Majority
In the immediate aftermath of the formation of the network, a counter call for peace and unity in the party was made in an SSP Members Open Letter, calling for signatories.
Speculation over State Involvement
Reminiscent of the campaign to undermine Arthur Scargill and the National Union of Mineworkers in the 1980's, revealingly recounted in Seamus Milne's ground-breaking 1994 investigation The Enemy Within: MI5, Maxwell and the Scargill Affair, the ongoing crisis has led to mounting speculation in some quarters regarding the exact extent of the role of the British state in the party's recent troubles[2], which has been at the forefront in Scotland of opposing the war against Afghanistan and Iraq and spearheading the rapid growth of the highly successful Military Families Against the War campaign.
On 26th May 2006 an article titled [1] Context is Everything by internationally renowned, award-winning 'Rebel Ink' weekly columnist, Kevin Williamson, which attempted to question whether the News of the World story was simply a prurient, salacious sting or part of a calculated political attack against a perceived threat to the British state, was, after much discussion, not published by the party's in-house newspaper, Scottish Socialist Voice.