Sheridan bid to grab SSP leadership

Published on Sunday 6 August 2006 00:13

TOMMY Sheridan is poised to reclaim the leadership of the Scottish Socialist Party and take revenge on opponents who accused him of lying in court.

The Glasgow MSP, who won 200,000 after a sensational five-week defamation action against the News of the World, will be nominated for the party leadership on Tuesday, meaning he could wrest back control as early as October.

Sheridan's backers plan to organise a putsch against his SSP enemies in a bid to win the civil war raging in the party.

It emerged yesterday that the 11 party members who testified against Sheridan in court had been reported to Lothian and Borders Police for alleged perjury during the defamation trial.

Yesterday, Sheridan's opponents - including three MSPs - revealed they were also considering reporting him to the police for alleged perjury.

The developments set the scene for weeks of vicious infighting.

Sheridan took the News of the World to court after it claimed he had attended swingers' parties and indulged in group sex.

The decision forced him to quit as SSP leader in November 2004 after party colleagues insisted they could not support his decision to sue the newspaper.

But the seven-four jury verdict in his favour on Friday has catapulted Sheridan to the forefront of the party he once led and helped found.

He will be formally put forward for the leadership - which is decided annually - by the party's Orkney branch, led by ally John Aberdein, on Tuesday.

Aberdein, who prepared Sheridan's case for the past three weeks, said: "I regard Tommy as the man who can reinvigorate the party. Those who can't accept that are a combination of the envious, the blind and the misguided."

Steve Arnott, the SSP's Highlands and Islands regional organiser, said: "The vast majority of the grassroots membership of the SSP are behind Tommy Sheridan. We are organising to get this party back behind him. Those who have lined up with the News of the World to try and destroy Tommy should question whether they have any role in this party.

"There is a clear choice for the SSP. If we are going to win votes then we need Tommy."

With Sheridan's backers insisting they already have at least 70% support among the party membership, they believe the path is clear for Sheridan to return. "The Tommy Sheridan bandwagon is under way," said one.

Under SSP rules, the post of party leader, or convener, is voted on at the party's conference every year. The post is currently held by MSP Colin Fox, who testified against Sheridan.

With his profile massively increased by the trial, Sheridan's allies are already talking up the prospect of the SSP linking up with the SNP and Greens to form a pro-independence alliance following next May's Holyrood elections.

But his rise will be bitterly resisted by opponents from the so-called 'United Left' faction in the party, whose members were among the 11 witnesses who testified against him.

One, MSP Carolyn Leckie, said last night: "I have effectively been called a liar by the court and I want the chance to fight for my reputation. Along with others, I am considering the option of a complaint against him. I know people lied in court, but I did not tell lies in court."

Another senior figure within the faction said: "We are actively considering going to the police to lodge a complaint. We have the evidence that we didn't commit perjury."

Glasgow councillor Keith Baldarassa said: "The reality is that if I am charged with perjury then I have numerous witnesses who will confirm that I did not perjure myself. I am not going

down for perjury because I was completely honest."

Today, the News of the World also takes a robust stand, saying in an editorial that the decision of the jury was "perverse. It's contrary to the weight of evidence and, on that basis, we will lodge an appeal.

"We cannot believe all 18 vital witnesses committed perjury in the witness box. We believe that the verdict is the mother of all injustices."

In a further development, the SSP's national secretary Allan Green, another of those who claimed Sheridan had admitted to adultery, stepped forward to dispute evidence given by Gail Sheridan.

Last Monday, the 42-year-old told the court that at the party conference in 2005, Katrine Trolle, one of the women Sheridan was alleged to have had sex with, told her she had been offered money to reveal her story.

However, Green said: "She [Trolle] was not listed among the delegates or as a visitor by any of the branch submissions in advance of the conference. So according to the records, Katrine wasn't at the conference."

A spokesman for Lothian and Borders Police confirmed that a member of the public had made a complaint of perjury following the trial.

Officers will now take a statement from the man before seeking the advice of the Crown Office on how to proceed.

Sheridan made his first detailed comments on the case yesterday. "We have been living in a parallel universe for the last few weeks. I have never felt so detached from the real world," he said. "Now I just want to spend time with my family."

It was reported last night that Sheridan put his 200,000 Glasgow home into his wife's name the day before he sacked his legal team. The MSP made his wife the sole owner amid fears that if he lost the case he may have lost the property.

PR guru's warning as Sheridans' star rises

TOMMY Sheridan will not pocket any damages awarded by the courts until after an appeal has been held - but he has already capitalised on his victory over the News of the World by selling his story to another tabloid newspaper for a five-figure sum.

Sheridan secured 20,000 from the Daily Record for his story in a deal which was arranged before the verdict was announced last week.

Scotland on Sunday understands that Sheridan struck the deal fearing he might lose the action and need money to help pay his legal bills.

It is believed the arrangement was sweetened with the offer of a fashion column in the newspaper for his wife Gail, an air stewardess. This will be seen as a clear acknowledgment of her extraordinary ascent to fame during the five-week case.

Last night, PR executives were attempting to estimate how far the Sheridans could go, following a case which was reported not just across the UK but throughout the world. The Borneo-based Daily Express called Sheridan "the most famous politician in Scotland".

The case is also now expected to be made into an Edinburgh Festival show.

Leading PR experts believe that Sheridan and his wife could advance both their bank balances and the Socialist cause through the interest generated by the case, although they warn that a vengeful tabloid press will be following his every move.

PR guru Max Clifford said: "The reality of it is that given the choice between the News of the World and him, most people would rather believe him.

"The David and Goliath philosophy works extremely well in most environments, particularly when you are fighting something with the power and wealth of a national newspaper.

"But from a News of the World perspective it is extremely damaging. They will be desperate to show that they were right and he was wrong, so they will be pulling in every contact and trying to do everything. He is now their No 1 enemy."

Clifford added that the UK-wide interest in his case meant that Sheridan had finally become more than a 'local' Scottish-interest politician.

He said: "He has broken through. It was very much a Scottish story for the first few weeks, but then it became more and more read down here as well. He has a window of opportunity and if he had come to me I could have got him 150,000."

Fiona Duff, the owner of Edinburgh-based Duff Publicity, said: "I think they have to be careful about balancing any columns and TV appearances with the socialist ethics they so clearly believe in. My advice would be to take every opportunity while it is there, especially on Gail's part. If she can get a few months of a column from it, then she should go for it."

Rory MacLeod, of PR firm MC Associates Scotland, which specialises in "reputation management," said: "Gail has caught the public eye. She's clearly well presented, has nice outfits and didn't put a foot wrong.

"I would be fascinated to know what Tommy will do with the money. Will he found another party? Will it go to a charity?"

In his tell-all in yesterday's Record, Sheridan said he did not know what he would do with his 200,000 damages, other than put some in trust for his daughter Gabrielle.

He used the coverage to speak of his devotion to his wife and, in references to events during and after the trial, posed for a series of photographs showing his hairy chest, him playing Scrabble and dressed in a Gretna football strip.

Last night, in the Record's sister Sunday newspaper, Gail said the "worst" thing was the day she thought she was suffering a miscarriage after collapsing when the News of the World ran one of its stories about her husband.

She said: "We knew the News of the World were preparing something and my family tried to protect me from the story because I was in the first months of a difficult pregnancy.

"But I wouldn't let them. Tommy handed it to me and I took in the full extent of it. I put my back against the wall of the kitchen and slid to the floor. One of the worst things was spotting my wedding picture in among the filth.

"Tommy was crying and desperate and phoned for the emergency midwives to come and see me."