Tuesday, June 9, 2020

The End of a Political Saga: Former socialist MSP and Independence campaigner Tommy Sheridan fails to overturn perjury conviction, 14 years of time, money and effort ends in total disaster at the UK Supreme Court as Sheridan is told, application refused, his demise was a bitter pyrrhic victory for his former party, the SSP who lost all their MSPs, as the smoke clears Sheridan emerges £376,000 better off, a decent house in Glasgow, a law degree, a career on Kremlin-funded propaganda outlet Sputnik, what is the SSP tally of success?



















Dear All

When Tommy Sheridan started his epic journey with his criminal trial for perjury conviction, I wrote that he needed a trial lawyer. Sheridan on the other hand after sacking his lawyers decided to fight his case by himself; having used this tactic previously in his civil case. It was Tommy Sheridan against the World (the establishment) which is why his case attracted so much press attention. He thought wrongly that showmanship could win the day; the Crown Office went with evidence and witnesses. Although in cases of this type, it is acceptable to show support for the victim, the victim on this docket was the News of the World who was mired in its own troubles over phone hacking.

Sheridan and the News of the World had history together, and neither liked each other. Tommy Sheridan railed against ‘the Murdoch Press’ who he despised because they generally publicly backed the UK government of the day. Rupert Murdock has been pro Conservatives and pro Labour in his time, but the truth is that his newspapers didn’t really change minds. The affect newspapers have on public opinion has diminished as the internet has opened up so many other news sources, the internet effectively killed off the printed press’s power. You could also add; the fact that the mainstream media was seen to be biased also did for them as well, when you present opinion as fact, massage the truth or paint a one side picture under the guise of impartiality, you are on a very slippery slope to demise.

After a lengthy stint in prison which the judge thought was necessary, I didn’t, Tommy Sheridan emerged from the clink with passion, renewed passion for Scottish independence. His political career in total shreds, refusing to accept his guilt; indy seemed an ideal vehicle to rejuvenate himself with the public. The SNP and the Scottish Greens shunned him and his indy campaign because of the way he allegedly treated women, but I think this was more to do with the power dynamic of who speaks as the ‘voice of Scottish independence’. It was claimed during his trial that Sheridan had allegedly ‘done’ a few women while party leader of the SSP. Cheating on your wife as we have seen by some party leaders and their senior leadership chums seems to be rather in vogue in Scotland. Some however prefer to operate in a quieter and less public way than others; female staffers for some seemed a good hunting ground, as were the female press and of course political ‘groupies’. On the one hand, we had some politicians creating a public image of “nobleness” around their person while in private trying to slip between the sheets with younger, firmer flesh. All the while the dear old wifey was nicely tucked away safe at home, keeping the house clean and hanging out the laundry, basically holding the fort down.

All this heterosexual sex flying about the place in Scottish politics created such outrage!

In a sense, Tommy Sheridan had a decent independence campaign with more opposition against him coming from the self righteous SNP and Scottish Greens. His cloth cut, Sheridan sailed on regardless, his oratory skills being much better than some of the main front men and women put forward the Yes Scotland, SNP and Scottish Greens side. His former colleagues of the SSP such as Colin Fox didn’t want Sheridan in Yes Scotland, and neither did anyone else. Tommy Sheridan was colourful in a way that others weren’t, he could hold a crowd were others struggled to find a voice.

Oh how the, SNP, Scottish Greens and SSP hated him!  

So, Sheridan, an outcast ploughed his own field, as to the pro UK side, they really didn’t care about Sheridan and his redemption mission, they were fighting hard, one more to the opposing team really didn’t make much difference to them. My view was if he wants to campaign, ‘on you go’, his campaigning was tarnished and the fact he had been in the jail for perjury was like an anchor round his neck. In Sheridan’s case, a lot of his troubles were all self inflicted and so it was as to his political downfall. Let’s face it, when the News of the World story broke about his antics, he could have played the ‘troubles in the relationship’ card. He could have waited till the heat died down and the press moved on. In a post Sheridan downfall world, many current politicians have been caught trying to get extra sex rations, they survived, in a sense Tommy Sheridan’s demise showed a clear blueprint and route out of cheating on your wife.

Don’t do what he did, stay silent and stay out the road!

In the movies, you mostly see the ‘good guys’ fighting the ‘bad guys’ and in such movies, the bad guys always lose, especially in big budget movies where the telling of a moral tale is seen as essential for commercial success. As the Sheridan criminal trial went along, I found myself wanting Sheridan to get off, not because I believed he was innocent, but because I found the whole thing a waste of time, money and effort. Did the jury get it right, well yes, they did, but this sordid tale was so farcical that I thought the Crown taking a hit would be a hoot. As Charles Dance said to such joy in the movie, ‘The Last Action Hero’, “in this universe, the bad guys can win”, he might have also qualified that statement by saying, it ‘depends status’!

‘God loves a Trier’, and Sheridan certainly is that, which is why he has fought so long and so hard to get his perjury conviction overturned. You have to admire the enormous effort he has put in over the course of his 14 year saga. He was taken his claim all the way to the UK Supreme Court. Three justices of the Court however have refused his recent application as it did “not raise an arguable point of law”. Personally, I am amused that he didn’t try the; ‘I did it but I don’t like the verdict’ option because it was probably just as viable as any other defence he has put up. In the grand scheme of things, it is time for Sheridan to ‘own that shit’. If there is an apocalypse tomorrow it wouldn’t matter anyway or even to the Scottish people now, only the press and his political enemies see mileage in it, for their political benefit.

I seriously doubt that it will affect his relationship with the Russians and his job as a fixture on the Kremlin-funded propaganda outlet Sputnik, his ‘Scottish Roubles’ to me in my mind seem secure. If you haven’t seen Tommy Sheridan’s house on the southside of Glasgow, it looks pretty good for a guy who has been in the nick. The Russians probably see value in having Sheridan in their employment, just as they see value in having Alex Salmond on RT. Salmond and Sheridan are both good speakers, and for a time, I thought if things went bad for Salmond in his criminal trial, then Sheridan might have got a shot on RT in The Tommy Sheridan Show.

Like football, anything can happen!    

In his day, Tommy Sheridan attracted a lot of attention for his poll tax stance, he made a real name for himself, but as with a lot of figures from the left who preach to the working classes, he destroyed himself. He has rebuilt his life, he has a career, decent house, and he is still someone who can argue and amuse, unlike our current political class. The current political classes are really boring, lifeless and robotic, people don’t expect help from them as constituents anymore; Sheridan did bring a certain sense of change which turned out to be a false dawn for Scots.

Finally; one thing, Tommy Sheridan can take some comfort from is that he is allowed to keep his £200,000 defamation award and in 2018 won another £176,000 in interest. No doubt, if there is another Scottish independence campaign, he will have a head start over other indy supporters with his Kremlin-funded propaganda outlet Sputnik. The jealously and bile against him will be in full flood from the LGBT controlled SNP, if indyref 2 ever happens, the SNP will have plenty to say at that time on their new found interest in defending ‘women’s rights’. The irony will not be lost on others when you know the SNP hypocrites have been attacking women’s rights lately.  It seems in politics that women are a ‘tool to be used’ by some, the only difference is how they are used.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University 

1 comment:

  1. Sheridan turned into a knob, I noticed it around 2001. Nobody cares about him, I haven't the faintest why the Russians would find him a reprehensive of anything Scottish. I never read anything he writes in Sputnik. As I said, he's a boaby.

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