Comrades demand Sheridan apology

With Mr Sheridan manoeuvring to retake the leadership and his supporters demanding a purge of all those who testified against him, the party's executive committee vowed to hold on to the reins of power after the Glasgow MSP's defamation victory over the News of the World.

At a meeting in Glasgow City Chambers, the executive also agreed to send out minutes of the disputed party meeting which state that Mr Sheridan had admitted twice going to a swingers' club.

Colin Fox, the party leader, who faces a challenge from Mr Sheridan at the SSP conference in October, said: "I believe he has damaged the party. We have had our party dragged through the mud, our reputations dragged through the mud, and it does not do socialism any good."

Mr Sheridan, who appeared with his wife in a series of newspapers yesterday, clad in dressing gowns to tell "their story", was unavailable for comment. Neither he nor any of his supporters were at the meeting.

The civil war within the SSP exploded into the public domain in the wake of Mr Sheridan's court victory.

He won 200,000 after a sensational five-week defamation action against the News of the World over its claims he took part in sex orgies, cheated on his wife and went to a swingers' club.

The newspaper yesterday confirmed it would lodge an appeal against the jury's decision. It said: "Our appeal will argue that any reasonable jury looking at all the evidence could not possibly have reached the verdict they did."

During the case, members of the SSP were forced to give evidence about an emergency meeting of the party's executive in November 2004.

Mr Fox, Carolyn Leckie and Rosie Kane took to the witness box to claim Mr Sheridan had admitted going to a swingers' club during that meeting.

In court, Mr Sheridan said he had been the victim of the "mother of all stitch-ups".

He said as many as ten people from the SSP had given perjured evidence because of a civil war within the party - and vowed that, although he might be hurt, politically he would never be destroyed.

Supporters of Mr Sheridan yesterday called on those who had "sided with the News of the World" to leave the party.

But a statement released by the executive committee supported the 11 members who claim Mr Sheridan did admit to going to a swingers' club.

It said: "This meeting notes that the last executive committee meeting called on SSP witnesses cited to give evidence at the Court of Session to neither lie or commit contempt of court.

"In the event, a number of SSP members were dragged before the court against their will by both the News of the World and Tommy Sheridan, under threat of imprisonment.

"This EC [executive committee] gives 100 per cent backing to those SSP members who implemented the decision of the last EC."

It went on: "We utterly reject those witch hunters who have called for disciplinary action and deplore the petulant insults that have been directed against these individuals.

"We believe that those 11 SSP members who publicly defended the honesty and integrity of the party should be commended and supported rather than vilified.

"We believe that the false accusations that the party is guilty of the 'mother of all frame-ups' is a monstrous political and personal defamation and should be withdrawn completely with an apology."

The committee also agreed to send to every party member the minutes of the meeting that claim Mr Sheridan admitted visiting a swingers' club on two occasions. Mr Fox said: "We will be releasing the minutes of the meeting in November 2004 to all the party members. They have already been in the newspapers. It seems only fair the majority of the party get to see them."

Supporters of Mr Sheridan plan to put him forward for the party leadership at the national conference in October.

But Mr Fox yesterday vowed to hold on to his position. He said: "I'm told that Tommy Sheridan will be standing against me, as is his right. However, I am proud of my role and I will be asking everybody to support me. If you ask me if I am looking forward to the campaign, then yes. My record is clear. I have given my best and always put the best interests of the party first.

"The party will have two or three months to decide: they will decide - this is a democracy."

Rosie Kane, the SSP MSP, who shares an office at Holyrood with Mr Sheridan but is refusing to work with him because of recent events, is demanding an apology and "the truth".

"Whatever happens, I cannot work with Tommy again, and I am not alone," she said.

However, if there are any plans to have Mr Sheridan expelled from the SSP, that decision would have to be taken by the whole party at a national conference.

Mr Sheridan is believed to be staying in a hotel while the situation blows over. Yesterday, it was revealed he put his 200,000 home into his wife's name before the trial in case he lost. It is understood he plans to put part of the 200,000 damages in a trust for their 14-month-old daughter, Gabrielle.

Sunday tabloid publishes grounds for appeal

THE next battle in the Tommy Sheridan libel saga kicked off yesterday when the News of the World printed the grounds upon which it would base its appeal against Friday's judgment.

But experts warned that the case was unlikely to come to court for at least a year and would be a tough one to prove. Any appeal is a painstakingly slow process.

The Sunday tabloid will have to enrol a motion for a new trial at the Court of Session, the formal process to lodge an appeal.

Within a month it will be expected to lodge written grounds of appeal, which will transfer the case to the Inner House of the Court of Session.

Three judges chosen from the Inner House, Scotland's eight most senior judges, will then be assigned the case and a date chosen for a hearing.

But Roddy Dunlop, an advocate at the Scottish bar specialising in defamation, said the case would take at least a year because both the court diary and the diary of Michael Jones, QC, who is likely to represent the News of the World, were so busy.

Mr Dunlop said the paper would have to prove the decision of the jury was perverse by proving their own evidence was so reliable. "The grounds of appeal they are going for is that only a perverse jury could have found in favour of Mr Sheridan: ie the verdict was contrary to the evidence."

Yesterday, the News of the World argued that any reasonable jury looking at the evidence could not have reached the verdict it did. In particular, the newspaper pointed out the minutes of the disputed SSP meeting and the evidence of Katrine Trolle that she had an affair with Mr Sheridan.

A strongly worded editorial, said: "We cannot believe all 18 vital witnesses committed perjury in the witness box."

In a separate legal matter, Lothian and Borders Police have received a complaint that witnesses in the recent trial lied under oath. The complaint has been passed on to the Crown Office, but again it is likely to take at least six months to come to court if any evidence is found.

LOUISE GRAY