Rosie Kane: 'I was having a laugh. You used to be someone I got on with'

WHEN an unnamed MSP had been accused in the News of the World of lurid sexual exploits, Rosie Kane, MSP, had found it all a bit amusing, she explained to the jury.

"I had gone into parliament having no clue what was about to unfold, thinking it was a bit of a joke. I had gone around parliament taking bets about who the unnamed MSP was, for a laugh. I was saying things like, 'Annabel Goldie is 500-1'."

Addressing Sheridan, she added: "I even came to you and asked who you thought the unnamed MSP would be. At that point I had to be taken from the parliament by Carolyn (Leckie] and told to shut up. I was having a laugh. You used to be somebody I got on with, Tommy."

Discussion among senior SSP figures about how to handle Tommy Sheridan's "confession" to visiting a swingers' club included celebrity examples, Ms Kane alleged. She said there was talk of "a few examples of how to go with this".

Ms Kane drew laughter several times from the packed public benches.

At one stage she was fumbling with her reading glasses while trying to hold and read a document, and she explained that the leg had come off her glasses in "a Jack Duckworth moment".

A court official stepped forward and offered Ms Kane a substitute pair of glasses. She was grateful for the help, and added: "I should have gone to Specsavers."

One of Sheridan's suggestions as to what had really happened was met with the remark: "I'm Derren Brown if I did that."

Having explained that she suffered from vertigo, Sheridan invited her to feel free to sit down if she wanted. "Very kind of you," she said.