SSP leader jailed

by info seeker Fri May 26, 2006 20:14

Could someone who knows whats going on with this court case etc please post a comment.

by Mike Sun May 28, 2006 22:42

But, as far as I can gather from friends who are in the SSP, the McCoombe/Militant faction within the SSP have a very moralistic approach to sexual matters and adopted an attitude of "if Tommy SHeridan has been shagging anyone other than his wife/partner, we should dump him", while others on the Exec (mainly from the SWP faction) took a "if there are no kids involved and it's all consensual, then it doesn't matter if he's been shagging a goat, it's his private business and f**k the newspapers, stand by Tommy". [not sure if the goat can give consent...but anyway, you get the idea]. However, the rush to kick Sheridan out by the Militant faction may be a bit embarassing to the SSP when seen on paper that it was the SWP defending his right to his own sexuality and his 'comrades' in the Militant stabbing him in the back. Even more embarassing, if it was minuted, would have been the speculation about what the News of hte World MIGHT have dragged up!

As it turned out, the woman who was claiming to have had a scene with Sheridan was a fantasist and later it emerged that, while he may have been shagging SOMEONE, it wasn't the woman that the News of the World had interviewed!

However, in my opinion, socialists who are for sexual liberation and advocate such liberation openly should not take any notice at all of allegations in the press about their private lives. It's only if there is hypocrisy involved that there is any public interest.

by SP Member - Socialist Party/CWI Mon May 29, 2006 01:38

This is a statement from CWI Scotland on the resgination of Tommy Sheridan in Nov. 2004.

The EC of the SSP have voted to instruct Alan McCoombes to had over the documents to the court. Tommy Sheridan has issued a statement calling for the same as well as launching a stinging attack on the SSP leadership. The likelihood is that Tommy Sheridan will be expelled from the SSP in the near future. Sheridan will likely be re-elected to the Scottish Assembly as an independent but the SSP could well lose all their other seats in the election. This whole mess has turned into the preverbial disaster for the SSP and for the Scottish working class.

Tommy Sheridan resigns as SSP convener
Scottish socialist Party (SSP) members were stunned to learn of the resignation of Tommy Sheridan as national convenor of the party on Wednesday 10 November.

Philip Stott, cwi Scotland
His statement to the press said he wanted to step back from frontline politics in order to be a “hands-on father”, as his partner is expecting their first child next year.

However, the catalyst for Tommy Sheridan’s resignation was the meeting of the SSP Executive Committee (EC) the day before. This meeting discussed allegations about Tommy’s private life that were expected to appear in Rupert Murdoch’s rag, the News of the World, the following Sunday.

The EC proposed three options to deal with these allegations. One involved refusing to speak about his private life, while the two others involved speaking to the press. When Tommy Sheridan insisted that he intended to deny the allegations and seek legal action, the EC passed a motion threatening to remove him as national convenor unless, by Saturday, he abandoned this strategy.

Sheridan resigned the next day and, following the article in the News of the World alleging a four-year relationship with an SSP member, he has taken out a libel action.

The SSP has been thrown into a serious crisis by the chain of events following the EC meeting that has spiralled out of control and has done significant damage to the reputation of the party.

The CWI in Scotland has worked for and welcomed the impact the SSP has made in the last few years. It has succeeded it attracting a new generation of workers and young people to the idea of socialism. The affiliation of the RMT union to the SSP has underlined the potential that exists to build socialist ideas among the organised trade union movement. Anything that undermines this represents a blow to the socialist movement in general.

Notwithstanding the serious political differences the CWI has with Tommy Sheridan and other leaders of the SSP, we welcome every step forward the SSP makes, and are working hard to build its membership and support. However, the events of the last two weeks have put in jeopardy the future of the SSP.

If the EC had not given Tommy Sheridan an immediate ultimatum to drop his denial and legal action, and made it clear publicly that the right–wing tabloid allegations were an attempt to undermine the SSP and Tommy Sheridan, this situation could potentially have been avoided.

By trying to force Tommy Sheridan to drop his preferred option before even waiting to see the press claims from the News of the World, the SSP leadership made a potentially difficult situation much worse.

It is one thing to consider whether or not to take legal action as a party. That issue, however, should not have immediately been linked to Tommy’s right to take such action or his position in the party.

Of course, the personal conduct of a leading member of a political party can damage, sometimes severely, the reputation of that party. The tabloid allegations, completely unproven, made against Tommy Sheridan do not fall into that category.

These events have been a gift to a brutal anti-working class scandal sheet with a long track record of attempting to undermine socialists and trade unionists, including through the use of 'sex scandals'.

The crisis has been made worse by repeated statements from leading SSP members to the press that the party would not back Tommy Sheridan in his legal action against the News of the World. There were also claims by leading EC members that he wanted the party to lie to protect him.

All of this has acted to fuel the impression that Tommy Sheridan was sacrificed in order to avoid bad publicity or the accusation of colluding in a “lie” about personal matters.

This has played into the hands of the capitalist media who have produced acres of newsprint over how the SSP has lost its best asset and is tearing itself apart over the issue.

The EC carries significant responsibilty for that situation developing in the way that it has.

The CWI has serious political differences with Tommy Sheridan. But we recognise that he has retained significant authority among working class people in Scotland. It is through Tommy Sheridan that many workers identify with the SSP.

Much of this authority was built when he was the figurehead of the anti-poll tax struggle in Scotland. At that time he and other leaders of the SSP were still members of the CWI.

The SSP has largely built its support up until now on its opposition to poverty and inequality; an implacable stand against the imperialist occupation of Iraq and through its support for workers in struggle such as the PCS members and Scotland’s nursery nurses.

It is only by basing itself on these principles, while advancing a clear socialist and class programme, that the SSP can recover and move forward. It is that course that the CWI in Scotland is advocating the SSP should now take.

by Citizen Smyth Mon May 29, 2006 09:47

Why the hell should he hand over internal party documents over to people not in the party. None of their business. Parties should not be considered as wings of the State. PS last time I checked 'Militant' (presume you mean CWI) did not support the moralistic removal of Sheridan.

by SP Member - Socialist Party/CWI Mon May 29, 2006 10:51

The CWI in Scotland opposed the removal of Tommy Sheridan as national convenor of the SSP. Both Sheridan and McCoombes are former members of the CWI and left the CWI a number of years ago at the time of the formation of the SSP.

by Stephanie Mon May 29, 2006 13:06

Good to see them rushing to support Tommy. Not so long ago and you would only have to check the archives of this site to see that they were rubbishing him.
And the simple question is does the CWI think that Tommy should have dropped his libel case?

by Citizen Smyth Mon May 29, 2006 15:13

In fairness to the CWI, from what I remember they were critical of Sheridan's politics but that does not mean they support his removal in some kind of moralistic purge. I think that some contributors are letting their own political hang-ups get in way of accurately discussing this question. The main issue is about the idea that internal Party Documents are available to anyone outside that Party. It should not be. The State should have no right to demand minutes from any Political Organisation, Trade Union, Campaign, whatever.

by SP Member - Socialist Party/CWI Mon May 29, 2006 17:25

Please do us the courtesy of reading the statement above, which was issued at the time of the removal of Tommy Sheridan, before taking a swipe at us based on what you think our attitude was/is.

As you can see from the statement, the CWI is of the opinion that Tommy Sheridan was forced into an untenable situation. The decision by Tommy Sheridan to take legal action was for Tommy to decide.

As regards whether the minutes of the meeting should be handed over to the court, the mistake was made (a) by bothering to discuss the issue at the SSP executive at all and (b) stupidly recording the minutes of those discussions. The leadership of the SSP should have had to intelligence to know that the minutes would be demanded in the event of any libal case. It was sheer stupidity.

I would be opposed to handing over these documents to a court although the financial impact on the SSP is undoubtedly a problem.

If the leadership of the SSP are interested in salvaging anything from this debacle they need to figure out a way of supporting Tommy Sheridan and sort out how they are going to deal with the Scottish Assembly elections rather than heading down the road that they appear beint on travelling, i.e. expelling Tommy Sheridan.

by Tom Joad Mon May 29, 2006 19:21

surely the best thing to do is get a comrade or someone else to break into the centre and steal the minutes. It worked alright for that sadist fucker of a doctor in lourdes hospital. The files on loads of women just went missing. whats good for the goose.....

by SP Member - Socialist Party/CWI Mon May 29, 2006 21:41

and Alan McCoombes has been released. The judge is now looking for the names of members of the Cardonald branch (Sheridans branch) of the SSP that attended a meeting during the week which passed a motion demanding the minutes be destroyed. The judge is threatening to charge the members of the branch with attempting to pervert the course of justice. SSP leaders have been threatened with further jail if they refuse to hand over a list of names.

This situation is going from bad to worse for the SSP. Someone leaked the fact that minutes of the meeting existed (apparently recorded without Tommy Sheridan's permission) and this led to the current situation. Certain individuals in the leadership of the are now looking around for scapegoats and don't be surprised if they start pointing fingers at the CWI, SWP or some other platform in the SSP.

by Observer Tue May 30, 2006 10:15

"Certain individuals in the leadership of the are now looking around for scapegoats and don't be surprised if they start pointing fingers at the CWI, SWP or some other platform in the SSP."

Anybody but Tommy. He's totally blameless.