More Purge than Perjury

Tommy's hairy back was the equivalent of OJ's glove that couldnt fit. You have to say that if you have the best legal team money can buy would you not have got your sexual partners to have identified something about his body? Sheridan has rebuffed a series of slanderous attacks pushed at him without a shred of credible evidence apart from hearsay, gossip and salacious rumour.

It was great to see an organisation like the News of the Screws being comprehensively shafted in court.

It also raises the hilarious question of why are lawyers paid so much? If News Internationals lawyers are so great why did they not prime their 'witnesses' to mention their hirsute lover? If Tommy's lawyer was so great why did it make hee-haw difference when he was sacked?

There are many more than two sides to this argument, and I for one don't believe the SWP's intentions are honest. But here are at least two irreconciliable elements of the party that 'united the left'.

In a statement issued by Frances Curran MSP, Rosie Kane MSP and Carolyn Leckie MSP they say:

"We are angry that the Scottish Socialist Party has been dragged through the Court of Session for 4 long weeks and now faces another ordeal as the News Of The World launches an appeal. This was a court case we didn't want to be involved in and one that Tommy Sheridan should never have initiated. Tommy has lied his way through this court case and we want no part in that. We have told the truth and we stand by the minutes of our party which record the truth about Tommy Sheridan's standing down as National Convenor in November 2004 and we will resist any attempt to revise the SSP's history."

While the Socialist Worker Platform of the Scottish Socialist Party issued a statement following Tommy Sheridan's libel victory against the News of the World:

"All members of the Socialist Worker Platform offer their heartfelt congratulations to Tommy, Gail and Gabrielle Sheridan (blah blah blah - Gus) ...The Socialist Workers Party joined the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) in 2001 and in doing so, helped to achieve the tremendous result in the May 2001 elections when five SSP MSPs joined Tommy Sheridan in the Scottish parliament. The Socialist Worker Platform of the SSP was absolutely appalled when the News of the World printed stories about Tommy Sheridan's private life in 2004. These stories were deliberately designed to destroy the most charistmatic socialist politician in Scotland.

We were not surprised that the Murdoch empire, which set out to smash the trade unions in the 1980s, were more than willing to do this. However, we were deeply saddened and dismayed to see other socialists and members of the SSP stand in court as News of the World witnesses. This has caused huge rifts in the SSP and has damaged the party's reputation amongst all those people who voted SSP in the 2001 Scottish parliamentary elections. We call on these News of the World witnesses to do the honourable thing and resign from the Scottish Socialist Party."

I'm not really sure that the SWP had anything to do with the success of the SSP buty anyway. Meanwhile Colin Fox was interviewed stumbling platitudes about 'looking forward to working with Tommy in the years ahead..." Aye right.

It's also interesting to hear the end of Tommy's post-court speech (edited from all the tv coverage I saw) where he says: "I'll be back on the streets calling for the Israeli troops to stop killing innocent people in Lebanon, calling for the scrapping of nuclear weapons and to call for an independent socialist Scotland."

Now out of all the speculation about what's happening next one thing should be remembered. Neither the SWP nor RESPECT favour indendence for Scotland. So the SWP's support for Tommy is highly opportunist and he wont be joining RESPECT.

Anyone fancy a pint?