The fall of Tommy Sheridan
Posted on Thursday 23 December, 2010
Filed Under Scottish Socialist Party
THAT Tommy Sheridan was the most charismatic and gifted revolutionary socialist politician of recent decades is beyond serious dispute, and I always used to admire him for that. I still do, I suppose.
In a period where the left failed to find a widespread hearing, he alone proved capable of building a substantial electoral base for basic class struggle ideas. Without him, the Scottish Socialist Party would not have achieved the measure of success it did secure, and the credit for this can never be taken away from him.
That he used the fame that inevitably ensued to his personal sexual advantage is not an issue that should be of pressing concern to anyone other than himself and those with whom he slept. No one should cast judgement on the consensual relationships or others, be they gay, straight, marital, adulterous, based on auto-erotic asphyxiation, administered by hookers dressed up in Luftwaffe uniforms, or participated in by however many can squeeze into a bed in a cheap hotel room.
At the time the News of the World published details of Sheridan’s visits to a swingers’ club in Manchester, he had sufficient popularity North of the Border to take exactly that stance. A dignified ‘no comment’ or a rigid ‘none of your business’ line, and he would have rode out the publicity, in much the same way as any other married politician caught playing away by the red tops.
There are enough broadminded adults out there to ensure that nookie with someone other than the missus is not the automatic end of a political career, as figures from Shagger Norris to Paddy Pantsdown can testify. Millions of us could not cast the first stone.
I cannot imagine what drove Sheridan to sue for libel instead. In a country where religious feelings are more widespread than in England, perhaps he felt that the revelations were electorally damaging. Perhaps he saw a one-off opportunity to make some serious cash. One day his memoirs will presumably tell us.
But what was inadmissible right from the start was his expectation that his comrades were somehow duty bound to stand up in the dock and commit the criminal offence of perjury in his support.
Sheridan’s supporters have argued all along that it is the elementary responsibility of socialists to defend other socialists against the Murdoch press, at all times and in all circumstances, and at any degree of jeopardy. The reality is that everything depends on the political issues at stake. Where there is sufficient cause for such a risk, then the correct course would naturally be to take it.
But unlike, say, John Maclean or the leadership of the Communist Party of Great Britain before the general strike, Sheridan was not before the court on charges of sedition. Unlike Jock Haston, Roy Tearse, Heaton Lee and Ann Keen, he did not stand in front of a jury for the instigation of unofficial industrial action. Unlike Ricky Tomlinson, Des Warren, the Pentonville Five or hundreds of miners in 1984 and 1985, the issue at hand was not his conduct on the picket line.
Sheridan’s conviction today flows entirely from his insane determination to lie about his inability to keep it in his trousers. As a result, he has destroyed everything he spent the first half of his life building up, just at a time when a party premised on militant opposition to coalition austerity could truly have hit the big time. However sorry one has to feel for the family, the biggest tragedy about what has happened is the setback this represents for the far left as a whole.
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74 Responses to “The fall of Tommy Sheridan”
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“But what was inadmissible right from the start was his expectation that his comrades were somehow duty bound to stand up in the dock and commit the criminal offence of perjury in his support.”
Yup, that just about sums it up for me. He should never have bought into the reactionary values and morality of the press in the first place.
And that, really, sums it up in about as pithy and concise a piece as one could wish.
Yes, McNeilage’s behaviour was a total disgrace, yes, there were tactical blunders and personal fuck-ups on the SSP side but the bottom line is Sheridan bought the whole thing upon his head, all by himself and the SSP were put in no-win situation.
The real losers, though, are the Scottish working class. Well played, Tommy…
Nobody makes you inform on a comrade on behalf of the capitalist state and the News of the World. That is class treachery. Revolutionaries have died under torture rather than do stuff like that but Sheridan had so many willimng executioners who volunteered their information to have him jailed. Nothing excuses that. They did not have to lie, they just had to refuse to collaborate. They are scabs for doing that.So he was stupid, he should not have done what he did but the workers movement keeps its shit inhouse, it does not go to the class enemy (if such still exists for the SSP) to jail one of their own. A shameful act of class treachery.
Is it though, Gerry?
So risk jail for contempt of court just to protect a shagger and his outsize ego? To not do so is class treachery, is it?
Nonsense. You’d have had a point if Sheridan had been on trial for some political offence or as a result of political activity.
However, he wasn’t. So you really think refusing to back up his lies, perjur oneself on his behalf because he didn’t have the guts to deal with his personal issues is treachery?
Jesus wept…
Good piece. Sherridan’s launching this libel case was monumental folly and the wider consequences are tragic. Calls of “class treachery” from Gerry and co only make them look as foolish as Sherridan.
I don’t like the puritanism of either this case, nor of much of the SSP leadership. That kind of stuff has no place on the left – at least, I would hope that.
But people get what they deserve – and the Scottish left are presumably about to get another self-proclaimed teatotaller, this time one that’s openly religious and pious. George Galloway, the left of Scotland deserve you back and will no doubt welcome you with open arms, having learned no lessons about the cult of celebrity and the importance of principles above self-publicity.
The working class of Scotland deserve better. But they seemingly weren’t part of the calculation that led to this sorded legal adventure.
What H. said, basically.
Yes, defend him against political charges, trumped up or otherwise.
But risk getting banged up because of Tommy’s personal life? Hardly.
H. He was a member of my constituency when he was with the militant tendency. I do not rejoice in his downfall. Sometimes personal ego can destroy an individual as they get so popular they think they are infallible. His allegations of class treachery towards his former colleagues was a disgrace. He wanted them all to lie for him. They all lost their seats in the Scottish Parliament as a result of this fiasco. Only one guy now in the Scottish Parliament calling for financial alternatives to the cuts. The wee Green man Harvey.
Jimmy Glesca – well summed up – no pleasure to be taken from the whole sorry mess. TS did put the boot in to many of his former colleagues who refused to lie for him – no class treachery there Gerry Downing and as for the bollocks about revolutionaries dying rather than speaking against a comrade etc etc . . . geez peace ! He was shagging around and got caught . . .nowt political there
Gerry Downing. What utter crap from you. Tommy Sheridan was offered a way out by his comrades. He was asked to step down into another position. He was not pragmaitic enough to accept compromise. He could have refrained from going to court and splitting his party. He could have apologised for his indescretions and kept party unity. It would just have been another shagging story.
What everyone said (except Gerry).
And nothing to say from the land of the Red Clydesiders on making a political difference between our bastards and theirs? No class lines that need to be defended, no workers movement to counterpose to the capitalist courts and state? Just the non class ‘he lied ‘and we must tell the truth’ and the Queen is the ultimate arbiter or how far the working class can aspire to justice. John MacLean would turn in his grave to hear you lot.
“making a political difference between our bastards and theirs”
But where was the politics when TS asked the SSP exec to go to court and lie on his behalf – in a libel case TS was bringing himself which was about his private life?
If someone’s a good enough socialist, are there no limits to the things you’ll do to defend them?
Gerry Downing. More crap from you. The Red Clydesiders were a myth created by the press. In fact a lot of them were racist. Attacking foreign labour.
I’m too much of a middle of the road leftie to agree with you very often Dave (tho I do admire your writing style), but you’ve summed this up perfectly.
Who cares about his sex life, that’s up to him. But he should not have expected others to lie for him.
Gerry Downing, you are putting the working class case for a trial that didn’t happen.
This is the inevitable messy end to a case that should never have gone to law – Sheridan’s case against the NotW. A case taken up against party advice. The case involved sexual behaviour which Sheridan wished to deny in court to his advantage, but broadly admitted to in meetings with party comrades.
Why the ‘class traitor’-type accusations against ex-comrades who spoke against him? Why not a similar accusation against Sheridan, who was happy to bring down a left political party in defence of his ‘image’?
This case has nothing to do with class politics. It is to do with an egotist brought down by his lies.
`administered by hookers dressed up in Luftwaffe uniforms’
I always felt what went on in Max Mosley’s bedroom was between him and the other sixty people in it and nobody else.
According to the SSP Youth website statement, Tam’s clairvoyant mam claims she saw a vision of the Virgin Mary who claimed her soon to be born son would lead the working class of Scotland. This is explicitly stated as a fact and not as sarcasm or an attempt at humour.
Well – when she delivered her performance at the “Solidarity Scotland Party” launch rally – did she know even more? This trial was all about…His Impossible Dream. Watch and cringe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5buYLOanF8
dzb. You are stretching things a bit far. His Ma was maybe high on port and lemon. Makes you fart you know. The launch rally is old hat although still cringe worthy. That old working class song rendition is common north of Watford Gap.
Dave gets it exactly right. If the state prosecutes a socialist for drunk driving you couldn’t seriously expect other people to lie on that person’s behalf. Sheridan could have avoided all this from the very start.
The SSP’s statement expresses well the foolishness and the need to move on.
http://www.scottishsocialistparty.org/new_stories/statements/sheridan-conviction.html
Yes what people get up to is their own business but sorry if you are the leader of a political movement you need more goddam discipline. You have to have some self sacrifice, the fact is this whole episode has done enormous damage. The lesson is, yes socialists lead the way and don’t tail the working class but don’t go so far in front that no-one can see you! If I were in an organisation that got destroyed by a sex scandal I would want to string up the bloody culprits. (though they would probably like that!).
Socialists: Say no to orgies!
“Would have ridden”, surely?
“Socialists: Say no to orgies!”
Spoilsport !
What is the fundamental difference between Gerry Downing saying that socialists should dissemble and lie to protect a Great Man of the Left, and the Catholic Church covering up historic abuse of children by priests, in the name of the Greater Glory of God?
Anyway, now we’re going to get another Working Class Hero in the shape of George Galloway for Gerry to idolise, whatever rubbish he perpetrates.
Are there no women good enough? Or are we constantly to have to cope with and cover up macho men as the saviour of the working class?
I for one don’t want to hold out for another hero.
I suppose doctoring videos to help stitch up an old comrade is acceptable as well? No-one seems to mention some of the political context to all this. Sections of the SSP leadership have hidden behind some of the arguments on this thread to disguise the fact that there were deepening disagreements between people like Sheridan and them. We can see where their ascendancy led – kowtowing to nationalism and feminism and transforming the SSP from a class party into a bunch of petty bourgeois radicals with an unhealthy, obsessive and hysterical hatred of Sheridan.
Doug
Heaven forbid leftie man should ‘kow tow’ to feminism . I think that comment says it all really.
Yep, feminists are just petty bourgeois. I seem to have slipped back to the 80s !
What we need are more male heroes, who are hypocritical of course with their pretence of family values , who must never ever be criticised .
Women, know your place !
Sadly as RP states , this is all too similar to the cover ups by the Catholic Church.
Excellent post Dave.
Good to read after all the nonsense at Socialist Unity.
That old working class song rendition is common north of Watford Gap.
Yeah: but not at the launch rally of a political party by it’s founders mum. From the platform. As part of the official proceedings. That’s just strange.
C’mon Doug, you know it is important to specify a class content on these occasions.
Shouldn’t you blast the SSP for kow-towing to bourgeois feminism?
Dean. You make fair comment. What people do behind closed doors is fine but flaunting it in public at a swingers club etc and thinking your own personal prestige and ego will make people turn their backs and keep quite is absurd. What is it with the likes of Sheridan, Parkinson, Major, Mellor, Prescott and Archer. They all talked a good story about values then are caught wandering. At least Parkinson had a good looking bit on the side.
Dave, dontcha know ALL feminism is bourgeois !
Still Doug, none of that bourgeois feminist nonsense in Iran eh .
An old Parkinson joke. One bang and the Cabinet falls apart.
“dontcha know ALL feminism is bourgeois!”
I’m not so sure. I think that Valerie Solanas was fairly revolutionary.
(Cue reminder from various individuals about how Trotsky himself denounced acts of terrorism as a petit bourgeois tactic. And round and round the ferriswheel we go.)
married respectability – how disappointingly petit-bourgeois! – its hardly the thing that a socialist superman should lose his career fighting for.
If he’d just told the NotW to fuck off, none of this would have happened…
Yep Waterloo Sunset. Quite. Keep it in your trousers. Keep it out of court. Don’t ask comrades to pejure themselves because you could n’t manage either. The two steps needed by TS he was unable to deliver. What an idiot.
John Maclean would have put a flea in Mr Sheridan’s ear if he was about. To compare Mr Sheridan’s court battle with John Maclean’s is an outrageous. John Maclean was set up and sent to terrible prisons that ruined his life.
Joe Hill (of I dreamt I saw Joe Hill last night fame)is a better example again Mr Sheridan wouldn’t be able to walk in his shadow. Joe Hill the night a shopkeeper was killed was with a married comrade, who was his lover. Her husband took humrage to this and shot Joe Hill in the shoulder.
The shot to the shoulder was used as evidence that Joe had been involved in the robbery and death of the shopkeeper. He was arrested and incarcerated waiting to stand on trial for a crime he did not commit and had nothing to do with. Joe was organising workers hand over fist in Utah at the time.
Joe’s lover and her husband insisted that they gave him an alibi and exxplain what had happened. Joe refused as he knew it was a political fit up and did not want to bring his lover and comrade’s repution down or humiliate her husband. He wanted to the defence to be political and had the best lawyer paid by the IWW to defend him, however it proved impossible as the state were determined. Despite many people begging him to allow the man and woman to come forward he refused to bring them into it.
Joe Hill was found guilty and sentenced to death by firing squad.
Mr Sheridan behaved nothing like these great socialists – he is a narcisst who just wanted to be the big I AM and was motivated by power and greed.
I have been in the centre of this for 6 years and cross examined by him 3 times in court and my feelings are only relief. Sadly Mr Sheridan and his friends brought it all on themselves and were told what the consequences would be.
We were NEVER going to lie for him and he was daft to think we would.
Brilliant Cat. well said.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMb8Csll9Ws
Cat. Nice one although an oldie. Sums up the attitude of the fascist left and their collaboration with right wing RELIGIOUS scum. The wilderness is the place for them on this Christmas Day.
`The fascist left and their collaboration with right wing regiligious scum.’
Yes, let this be the year when the fate of Israel and the Zionist sect butchers is sealed at least politically if not in fact and the Palestinian struggle is taken onto a new plane. And the year when imperialist troops are withdrawn or pushed out from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Season’s greetings to people in struggle against imperialism and its satraps and stooges everywhere.
Hilarious.
To me ‘satrap’ conjures up exotic Baudelairean visions of odalisques and seraglios…which almost but not quite brings us back to Comrade Sheridan and his misadventures.
Gelsga, here’s another oldie for you (one that you may not have heard of)…
“What pedagogue has not demonstrated of Alexander the Great — of Julius Caesar — that they were instigated by such passions, and were consequently immoral men, — whence the conclusion immediately follows that he, the pedagogue, is a better man than they, because he has not such passions; a proof of which lies in the fact that he does not conquer Asia, — vanquish Darius and Porus, — but while he enjoys life himself lets others enjoy it too. These psychologists are particularly fond of contemplating those peculiarities of great historical figures which appertain to them as private persons. Man must eat and drink; he sustains relations to friends and acquaintances; he has passing impulses and ebullitions of temper. “No man is a hero to his valet-de-chambre,” is a well-known proverb; I have added — and Goethe repeated it ten years later — “but not because the former is no hero, but because the latter is a valet.”
http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/hegel/works/hi/history3.htm
Incidentally, I am not so much as saying that Sheridan is a “hero” but, rather, that his accusers (such as Cat) demonstrate only their bad faith when they, in their rhetorical oscillations, try to simultaneously occupy the position of both the feminist hero standing up to Sheridan’s misogyny and the innocent, put-upon valet who had the right not to risk being banged-up because of Sheridan’s personal life.
By all means, occupy one of these positions. But to try and oscillate between both – to have one’s cake and eat it – is to lose all credibility, both personal and political.
CGF. Your 11:54. I do recall that. It was the Darius and Porus bit. The Sheridan case is just further proof that the left will never mature and will always battle against each other with their various dogma about Marx, Trotsky etc. I believe that Sheridan in an interview said that the hard left was trying to take over the SSP! And I thought he was hard left. But anything that avoids dictatorship of the left is welcome. As for Sheridan he had a way out and failed to take it. He did not realise his party was bigger than him and that some of the members had personal integrity. He chose a shovel and dug his own hole. Maybe the shovel will come in handy in the pokey. The ego has wasted a good talent.
“As for Sheridan he had a way out and failed to take it.”
Jimmy, good god man, look at what Sheridan’s accusers are themselves saying: “Mr Sheridan behaved nothing like these great socialists – he is a narcisst who just wanted to be the big I AM and was motivated by power and greed.”
In any other socialist organisation, such a charge – on its own, without the existence of NOTW revelations – should merit expulsion. The fact, then, that his accusers want us to believe that Sheridan was the author of his own downfall within the SSP – that, as you say, there was an opportunity for him to ignore the allegations, move on into another role within the SSP – has to be dismissed as a case of “bad faith”.
I am not pronouncing on the guilt or innocence of Sheridan as regards these charges about “power and greed” (and the misogyny of which he has also been accused). I am saying that the charges are articulated in an inconsistent way, which means that all we can do here is search for the consistency of Sheridan’s accusers in their deeds, not their propaganda. Selling secret (or manufactured?) recordings for hundreds of thousands of pounds, making sworn affidavits to the bourgeois press, first withholding and then magically producing key pieces of paperwork at tactically appropriate moments and so on.
Wake up, man.
CGF. I do not care much for the SSP or Solidarity. Both are now Scottish Republican parties. I do not support splitting the Union. You seem to forget that one of his comrades went to jail for refusing to hand over minutes. This comrade was a so called enemy. The SSP in my mind will come out of this with credit for not covering up. If they had lied it would eventually have been exposed and they would have been ruined. I think the flood gates are now open for more stories of promiscuity. It has already started. The genie is out.
Anyhow time for slaving in the kitchen.
“The SSP in my mind will come out of this with credit for not covering up.”
Even though the logic of their propaganda states that they are apparently quite happy for their leaders to be “motivated by power and greed” – just as long as they don’t ask them to lie in court.
This is what is otherwise known as a complete disintegration of credibility.