Socialists' backer is not short of brass

But the SSP has to live in the real, capitalist world; bills must be paid. And the man paying those bills for the SSP is the wealthy son of a millionaire brass manufacturer.

Steven McGrail, 46, is the only significant donor to the cash-strapped party, apart from Mr Sheridan himself.

Mr McGrail is a major shareholder in one of Britain’s most prominent brass manufacturers, Armac, a family firm founded in 1931.

Tommy Sheridan is proud to live among his constituents in the staunchly working-class Pollok area of Glasgow, but the SSP’s main financial backer lives with his wife Kathleen in a 250,000 villa in Dunblane, Perthshire, where he counts High Court judges and the NATO secretary general, Lord Robertson, as near neighbours.

Over the past 12 months, Mr McGrail, who drives a 26,000 jeep and counts numerous actors and musicians among his close friends, has donated at least 30,000 to boost the SSP’s dwindling coffers.

The Englishman, who describes himself as a freelance writer and musician, gave up his full-time job five years ago, after inheriting what is believed to be a six-figure legacy from his millionaire aunt, who was also a major shareholder in Armac, the brass and fittings company that is still run by the McGrail family.

Yet the self-styled socialist and shareholder has gone to major lengths to keep hidden both his huge donations to Scotland’s sixth biggest political party and his family’s vast personal fortune.

According to a former musical associate of Mr McGrail, the SSP member has been determined to keep the true extent of his wealth a secret from even his closest colleagues in the party: "Steve is a really modest guy and although it is well-known he is a member of the Scottish Socialist Party, few people have any idea how much money he actually has.

"He has explained his donations to the party, claiming he inherited his money from an aunt, but few people actually know he is the also the fifth biggest shareholder in a major company. As I’m aware, he fully intends to donate more money to the party but he has no aspirations to become an MSP; he is very much a background figure."

The Scottish Socialist Party claims that the only official position Mr McGrail holds in the party is treasurer of the Stirling branch, a post he has held for the past two years. Last month, he stood, unsuccessfully, as a socialist candidate for Stirling District Council.

The McGrail family business, Armac, was formed in Birmingham in 1931 by Mr McGrail’s father, Harold, a highly-regarded brass foundry manager from Yorkshire.

The company, which distributes brass fittings worldwide and employs 240 people, is run by Steven McGrail’s nephews, Paul and Mark McGrail.

The firm, which boasts clients as far afield as Mexico, Japan, South Africa and New Zealand, is part of the Armac Brassfounders group of companies, five firms which specialise in all aspects of the brass industry.

Among the firms owned by the McGrail family are Armac Manufacturing (Brassfounders) Ltd, which manufactures furniture fittings for the international market, Brass Turned Parts, which precision-turns parts for machinery and Frank Allart & Co, which manufactures builders’ hardware and architectural products. The family firm also owns Dunton & Marston, which runs a sand-casting foundry and Bentley Brassware, a major manufacturer of brass ornaments and light fittings.

According to a source from the GMB union, Armac’s takeover of five other companies in the past decade has led to a number of redundancies over the years.

He said: "Armac are one of the largest brass manufacturers in the midlands but very few of their employees are members of unions.

"During a series of takeovers in the late 1980s, a number of people lost their jobs, partly because the brass industry was suffering, but also because of Armac’s decision to streamline their business."

With his family legacy to fall back on, Steven McGrail works as a freelance writer and is a regular contributor to both Irish and Scottish folk music magazines. He also writes on culture and tourism issues for the US-based magazine Scottish Life, a periodical aimed at expats and Americans with Scottish heritage.

Writing recently on the popular folk music website www.folkmusic.net, Mr McGrail claimed that most traditional musicians were struggling to get by. He said: "If there’s one certainty about professional traditional musicians, it’s that not many of them are rich.

"Only a handful would admit to wanting to be, of course: a love of money scarcely chimes with the tradition. In reality (and realistically), few performers actually aspire to fabulous wealth. On the other hand, presumably none would spurn the chance of rather more cash going into their pockets, if offered."

Mr McGrail is also a committed campaigner for a united Ireland. His favourite political song is not the socialist anthem The Red Flag, but the Irish folk song The Other Side by Christy Moore, a lament about Republican prisoners incarcerated in Long Kesh prison.

He spends a lot of time in Ireland, and writes for most of the Irish folk magazines based in Dublin and Belfast.

A staunch environmentalist, Mr McGrail has also used his inheritance to prove his commitment to alternative energy, and was recently involved in a squabble with his neighbours over the installation of four huge solar panels on the roof of his semi-detached home, which sits in the conservation area of Dunblane.

According to local sources, some neighbours felt that the installation of the panels, which face Dunblane Cathedral, should not have been approved by the planning department.

Speaking at his home in the shadow of the cathedral, Mr McGrail told The Scotsman that he fully intended to stay in the background, but continue his support for the party.

He said: "I’m not looking for publicity or to be a figurehead. I’m a committed socialist and I was fortunate enough to inherit a legacy from an aunt, which I have decided to use to help out the party. This is something I will continue to do."

Despite his family’s wealth, Mr McGrail’s decision to invest in the Scottish Socialist Party has done little to change their ailing financial position.

It emerged last month that the organisation had incurred the wrath of the Electoral Commission for failing to submit its accounts.

The elections watchdog launched a review into the debt-laden party after it broke the electoral law by failing to submit a detailed breakdown of its donations for the first three months of this year.

The Electoral Commission said it would be writing to Mr Sheridan’s party asking for an explanation as to why it had not filed a return for the first quarter of this year, an obligation for all registered political parties under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000.

The investigation represents the latest question-mark over the financial health of the SSP.

According to its annual accounts, the SSP was more than 27,000 in debt last year, despite personal donations of more than 19,000 from Mr Sheridan himself, who donates a large proportion of his 48,000 MSP salary to the party cause.

In addition, the SSP has borrowed 38,000 from its members, primarily to fund the successful election campaign when they won six seats in the parliament.

The party’s total income in 2002 was 153,461, but its expenditure was 183,477.