"Today's proceedings at Glasgow High Court finally end the ill advised action Tommy Sheridan initiated 6 years ago in suing a tabloid over allegations he knew to be true. The jury found him guilty and the court has now passed sentence.
He alone is responsible for where he sleeps tonight, no one else.
He pursued legal action full in the knowledge he would lie in court. He asked his closest political allies and friends to join him in that crazy strategy and then turned on us because we refused. He still shows no sign of taking responsibility for his own actions.
More widely this affair is a stark warning of the dangers of allowing personal celebrity to displace political principles.
The economic and social challenge faced by the people in Scotland are however much more important.
The political injustices they face day in day out is of greater concern to us and can only be solved with socialist policies on jobs, wages, homes and wealth redistribution.
The SSP fully intends to put such policies to the public across Scotland as part of our Holyrood election campaign for a democratic Scottish socialist republic.
Now as never before Scotland needs a party of integrity and clear socialist principles. Holyrood needs socialist MSP's offering socialist policies more than ever as a clear alternative to the cuts sackings agenda being pursued by the current gang of complacent, out of touch politicians.
25 comments:
"He pursued legal action full in the knowledge he would lie in court. He asked his closest political allies and friends to join him in that crazy strategy and then turned on us because we refused"
As it stands, that's libellious. That was an accusation that was never proved.
James
At this point you promised us your view of matters, which we avidly await!
Having just read SSP United Left faction member Rosie Kane's well judged tweets (sent at the precise moment Sheridan was being taken down to the cells) you have to say the qualities of the current SSP leadership are self evident.
As Rosie says the SSP and the United Left faction are now fully vindicated.
They can now take their rightful place with legends of the Scottish socialist movement.
They can now seek to rebuild the left movement without any shame attached to them.
In years to come they can put their grandchildren on their knee and tell the tale of their role in this matter with pride.
They told the "truth" and the truth they will say is very important.
Maybe for the further education of their little ones they could play them the secretly recorded video; retrieve the secret affadavits and "minutes" out of their scrapbooks; and show them the photocopy of Georges £200K cheque.
Well done comrades.
Fair Point from the SSP
CB said...
James
At this point you promised us your view of matters, which we avidly await!
January 26, 2011 2:28 PM
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"Don't tell them Pike!"
Seriously I have no idea which way you willgo on this verdict James. That is a good thing. It shows you run an even handed blog.
I like your enigmatic stance so far.
I feel with other matters developing you should keep your own counsel.
Declaration of your allegaince view may encourage some (not me) to take a view that you are not even handed.
Maintain an air of mystery - "Garbo Speaks" was a good tag line but it was rather let down in reality.
democratic Scottish socialist republic, dead duck.
The words of the Late Jerry Rafferty spring to mind when looking at the current Scottish politial scene.
Clowns to the left of me,
Jokers to the right
James - I seldom think that Peter speaks much sense but his advice about haudin' yer weesht at this point about your own views is good advice. There is more to run on the whole issue of TS, the NOTW appeal, TS appeal, phone hacking etc etc. Much more life in this blog yet.
You have succeeded because your views are well hidden by your accurate and generally neutral reporting and moderation. I suspect I know what your views are and I would rather continue reading your reports without being forced to factor that in. In this case ignorance is perhaps bliss.
TS sued over allegations about a 4 year affair with fiona mcguire.he did not lie about this. in fact even the police were of the opinion that these allegations were untrue so the statement from the ssp that "he knew he was going to lie is" untrue, in actual fact a lie.As for "where he sleeps tonight is nobody's fault but his own". I totally disagree with this statement.Remember, several of the ssp witnesses in this trial were not involved in the first trial,but then came forward with new evidence to support the notw claims regarding perjury.Indeed, I believe,that some top Qc's have stated that this prosecution would never have happened without the help of the ssp.There is an old saying used over the years by true socialist's, "Never Grass Your Class, no matter what". It seems that the ssp leadership and a handfull of their members don't agree with this. We'll have to wait until May to see if the working class of Scotland do!!!
Bunc
Here is what Peter has to say about mere factual accuracy (above 2:43 pm):
'They told the "truth" and the truth they will say is very important.'
So they may well say. But what has that got to do with anything? There is not truth, so no perjury. Just the class struggle.
To my friends in Solidarity, I humbly ask: have youse all went doolally?
"...no matter what", Firestarter? "True socialists" would never put their comrades in the position of having to follow that dictum "no matter what".
And Peter, the "United Left faction" (which means the scores of SSP members who signed a manifesto way-back-when) dissolved itself some 4 years or more ago. TS (and you've) since been flogging a horse so dead it couldn't even convene a meeting, never mind organise a conspiracy. But those, of course, are only facts and shouldn't stand in the way of the truth of "true socialists". It's all very sad.
@Anon (top):
"As it stands, that's libellious. That was an accusation that was never proved."
hahaha! please god don't let him try and sue the ssp now as well! it's not proven the best strategy for mr sheridan
`They can now seek to rebuild the left movement without any shame attached to them.`
What planet do these people live on???.
I believe the Republican Communist platform called for the dissemination of those infamous minutes in 2004. Had this course of action been followed the minutes would need to have been ratified.
Minutes ratified and desseminated in 2004 would probably have meant that the internal civil war and all its consequences including the eventual jailing of Tommy Sheridan could have been avoided.
"Never Grass Your Class, no matter what"
No matter what?
Murder, paedophilia, rape, etc.
I've never heard of that saying before. Clearly I'm not a true socialist.
Trying to fleece the NotW out of £200,000 is fine by me. I wouldn't personally have a problem with someone doing that. It seems however that others were not willing to go along with the plan. At this point Tommy should have realised it was silly to continue. For some reason he decided to take on the might of the Murdoch Emprire, and add his political allies to his targets as well. Silly silly move.
Jessica, I'm afraid you've been misled somewhat by SSP spin. For a start, the SSP asked Tommy to resign as convenor if he intended to sue the NOTW. He did so. However, somebody on the SSP EC then went to the papers and gave an 'alternative' version of what was happening. Instead of the SSP EC condemning such a move, they briefed against Tommy. Things were fairly quiet for a while following this. However, as the date for the civil hearing approached it was widely reported that the NOTW would not fight the case as they had no chance of winning. This was in all the mainstream newspapers (except perhaps the Sun and the NOTW). Then, suddenly, out of the blue, it was reported to the Herald that minutes existed that 'proved' the NOTW's case. Did the SSP EC condemn the leaking of this information? Did they hell. Instead they began, and carried on, bleating about being involved in a court case they wanted nothing to do with. Has any single one of them condemned the actions of a certain Mr McNeilage? Not one! Now, I still don't believe that tape is kosher - it's just too 'convenient' for my liking - but even if it was - secretly taping your 'best friend' to sell the said tape to the biggest scab outfit this country has ever seen - come on! Is that really the image the SSP wants to be seen as? IF, on just one of these occasions the SSP had condemned the behaviour of one or some of its members it would be viewed a lot differently than it is today. But I don't have to prove that - the voters will tell you that in May. Far from the SSP 'resurgence' being talked about on some websites I think you will find the SSP vanishing without a trace!
James, my advice to you is to stay on the fence. You have played a blinder with the blog. Your thoughts should be your own: you have kept them quiet until now and this isn't over yet. I would continue with the same strategy.
Point of order Anonymous above. Until Minutes are ratified formally they cannot be termed an official account of any meeting. Even the lowliest of tuppence-ha'penny constituted groups knows this. For an alleged Political Party not to know it is pretty shocking. These, therefore, were not minutes, they were words written on paper and no more.
"I still don't believe that tape is kosher - it's just too 'convenient' for my liking"
My thoughts exactly, along with magical appearing minutes of the meeting!.
If they were called to court they would have to testify that Tommy didn't admit to going to Cupids. That would be perjury. His strategy put their liberty at risk. That's quite a gamble for them to take. I can understand if it was over something else, but not over the issue of a members sex life.
If they had went along with the plan it might have worked out in the end. But if not? How do you explain to your family that your going to prison because Tommy Sheridan enjoyed group sex? I'd feel really foolish having to have that conversation with my family and friends.
The SSP statement on Tommy Sheridan's sentencing reads........"Scotland needs a Party of integrity and clear socialist principles"....I'm not particularly well versed in the intricacies of the socialist movement, but I would think that the behaviour of certain individuals in the SSP over the last couple of years would preclude them from claiming "integrity" or "socialist principles".
My understanding is that most socialists would have a healthy disrespect for Rupert Murdoch and all he stands for, and that however flawed they may believe an individual to be, they would not willingly involve themselves in a campaign to have him incarcerated unless it concerned some violent threat to life.
I fail to see how the SSP can expect to be rewarded for their part in this debacle.
Jessica, I am honestly stuck at something Sheridan said at that meeting, my mind keeps coming back to it. I have thought and thought about it and can`t figure it out. It has been accepted that he said "Not a shred of evidence", how could he say that?. If he had been at cupids, he could not have known that there were no CCTV film of him, or what witnesses could have come forward. Yet, he was emphatic and such confidence!. I have come at this from all angles, and all I can come up with is that for him to say that, he could not have been at cupids. The more you know about this case the less you know?. So much just doesn`t make sense.
@Anon 10:08
Well if you're honestly stuck at that Anon then OK. It's just that we're all a little tired of hearing Sheridan fans go over the same old ground again and again and again. Not because their uncertain of the verdict, oh no.
Some of them would like to scream out, "Look. We know he did it, but we think the SSP leadership should have went along with the plan anyway". Or something to that effect. But that wouldn't wash with the narrative that Tommy has, and still does, relentlessly try and sell. So they're stuck really. In no man's land between truth on one side and pink fluffy unicorns on the other. Not a good place to be if your a serious political operative. Socialist or otherwise.
Let's all take a moment to thank Tommy for bringing "the walls of the temple crashing down".
What a mess. I need to stop thinking about it.
"Let's all take a moment to thank Tommy for bringing "the walls of the temple crashing down"."
Jessica, You must start to think much more clearly!.
The betrayal of Sheridan was not in what they did AFTER that meeting. The betrayal of Sheridan was in calling that meeting, think about it, very, very carefully, think about it.
"think about it, very, very carefully, think about it."
Have you ever seen the film Falling Down with Michael Douglas? It's just that whenever someone says "think about it" to me it makes me think of that film. Especially when they say it twice.
Ah, I think I get you. Took me a moment. You think he was betrayed by members of the Executive Committee for calling that meeting to discuss his private life? Hadn't he already failed to attend two private meeting he was asked to attend?
Right Jessica let's start discussing your private life. Then let's splash a load of lies all over the front page of the NOTW - all about your night of passion with Jeremy Kyle. What, you've never met JK? Well, that doesn't matter they'll print it anyway. Then when you start to complain and want to take action against the NOTW we'll all testify against you! What business had anybody to call TS to a meeting to 'discuss' his private life? I do notice however that you haven't defended the actions I spoke about above: the SSP EC not condemning the briefings to the press firstly about meeting and secondly about the 'discovery' of the minutes. Nor have you defended G McN's tape. Does this mean you condemn these action but don't have the bottle to say so? Or do you think this was acceptable behaviour?
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