Below is a statement derived from the deepest well of hubris and self denial:
SOLIDARITY
SCOTLAND'S SOCIALIST MOVEMENT
In light of today's headlines in the News Of The World, Lothian members of Solidarity would like to take this opportunity of reaffirming their unequivocal support for Tommy Sheridan and for those comrades who stood in solidarity with him in his recent defamation case against the Murdoch Press. It is worth recalling that this case resulted in a fantastic victory against all the odds and despite the best efforts of some of Tommy Sheridan’s former political allies in aiding the Murdoch Press in their attempt to ruin his political career, doing so in the interests of the same rotten establishment which Tommy has dedicated his life to fighting on behalf of the working class and oppressed in our society.
Indeed, the tremendous amount of goodwill and support which Tommy and which Solidarity have received in recent weeks - at various public meetings and when out campaigning, etc. - is testimony to the affection in which Tommy Sheridan is held as a result of that dedication.
The name adopted for our new socialist movement - Solidarity - was chosen with good reason. If the Murdoch Press and their hirelings think they can demoralise or defeat us then they are grievously mistaken. Our shared vision of a society based on equality and justice, of a world built on the principal of universal human rights and self determination, is far stronger and worth much more than the ill-gotten fortunes of the Rupert Murdochs of this world.
The history of working class struggle is littered with examples of the best and worst of humanity, with examples of outstanding courage and craven acts of betrayal. Lothians members of Solidarity are proud to be in the same movement as those who lend credibility to the greatest cause in the world - the cause of socialism. Let no one be in any doubt.
We are here to stay.
STATEMENT ENDS.
John Wight
Solidarity Lothians Press Officer
07738528145
Comment:
The only truth in the above statement is the last line "We are here to stay." John reveals his anxiety with this statement. Of course John you are here to stay - outside the movement, as an historical curiosity and a rich source of analysis for the rest of us.
The rest of it is simply a vulgar rehashing of the "your with us or against us" mantra all too familiar and with unfortunate historical precedents, at least from a progressive point of view.
Sunday, October 01, 2006
The politics of deceit
A sensational tape has surfaced from an impeccable source within the movement. On the tape Tommy Sheridan is candid and open about the events surrounding his recent well publicised libel case against the News of the World.
All those in the movement who believed Tommy was telling the truth must now ask themselves if the movement can continue with this kind of lying and deceit.
The political abc's of the movement is it is built on trust and honest relationships and conversely harmed by lies and political spin. Those who cynically went along with Tommy's lies, and I specifically accuse the SWP and CWI leadership, have a lot of explaining to do.
Those who naively believed those lies need to urgently rethink their politics. The movement is too important to be the property of one man. Lining up behind Tommy because he is the "charismatic leader" is precisely the type of thinking of Tito's Yugoslavia.
The Scottish left and the broader movement must critically examine the events of the last two years in the SSP. It's time to grow up - develop our own abilities and self confidence and support others to do the same.
Let's develop together an Interdependent movement not a codependent or dependant movement. One which honours honesty, values every contribution to human progress and works towards genuine participatory democracy without secrets and lies.
The transcript below is from the NotW website:
Sheridan held a series of tense meetings with friends and former colleagues as he tried to whip up support for his plan to sue the News of the World over stories about his private life.
One of those the MSP visited was George McNeilage — who’d been among the three best men at the politician’s June 2000 wedding to Gail Healy.
What Sheridan didn't know as he sat in McNeilage's Glasgow home was that EVERY word was being caught on video tape. This is the transcript of that meeting, which begins just after Sheridan’s arrival.
Sheridan is blunt as the conversation begins with him confirming he was confronted by Keith Baldassara and Alan McCombes about trips to Cupids...
TOMMY SHERIDAN: Right, obviously you've got a situation where, ehm, I was upset with Keith a couple of years ago because he told Alan.
GEORGE McNEILAGE: About the swingers?
SHERIDAN: About me going down to Manchester in 2002. And Alan pulled me up about it. And I said to him: 'Look, stupid, shouldnae have done it. Done it once before in '96 and went back in 2002.
"And cheap thrill but it's been done and that's it. At the time it was a great idea but I'm confident nothing will come back out of it."
McNeilage says he knows Sheridan went to the club with brother-in-law Andy McFarlane and a pal but Sheridan insists he can deny being the unnamed MSP in Anvar Khan's book as she has altered certain details to hide his identity.
McNEILAGE: Tam, I've read the article, I know who it is. She's wrote it coded but I know it's **** and I know it's f*****g Andy.
SHERIDAN: What's important, George, is the facts which she refers to.
McNEILAGE: What, the booze and the f*****g?
SHERIDAN: Well, number one, 2001. Right? Number two, she meets the guy the first time at it (Cupids) in 2001. Number three, she meets him in an Edinburgh bar in 2001.
Number four, she then has drunken sex with him after she's been taken for a meal by him later in 2001.
Number five, the guy tries to hide he's married.
Number six, we then drive from London to Manchester to go to a sex club, right?
McNEILAGE: Which I found f*****g strange.
SHERIDAN: All of that is nonsense. You know the real story. The News of the World have then ran the story "Married MSP affair".
Sheridan admits his relationship with Anvar but he is already calculating how he can use her intimate knowledge of him — particularly his hairy body — to cover his tracks. He went on to use a similar line in court.
SHERIDAN: There's been a few sessions. In 1992, me and ***** were sh*****g her. 1992, which is in certain respects my saving grace because if there's any story about what she knows about my personal habits or if she knows about I've got a hairy back or a hairy a***, of course she does because she f*****g sh****d me and I've admitted that. That's out in the open. That's a matter of public record.
McNEILAGE: I know that.
SHERIDAN: Alan comes on the phone, saying: "Is this you?" I said: "Of course it is. I'll speak to you the morrow." So I meet with Keith and Alan in the City Chambers and, ehm, Alan says to me: "Listen, I've had a long think about this and I think you should own up."
I says: "Well, wait a wee minute Alan, first of all I'm no' even f*****g accused of anything. Is this no' a wee bit harsh here?" The point is, Alan's suggestion to me is: "Just own up, people will forgive a sexual liaison, but they'll no' forgive a liar."
And I says: "Well look, you're asking me to own up to something when, if she now comes out and says it's me, she's going to have to say that she lied in her book."
McNEILAGE: But that could be f*** all to her, Tam.
SHERIDAN: If you let me take it to (inaudible) conclusion because it might be f*** all to her but it's no' f*** all in a court of law. In a court of law, she's made a c*** of herself.
In a court of law she's said one thing in a newspaper article, one thing in a book, which I've had checked out.
She's...throughout her book, she's talked about how everything is true.
So I say to Alan and Keith that, what I want to do is to face it down. I think they've got f*** all on me.
I think if they had anything on me they'd have used it long before now.
Next, he confirms his intention to lie, saying he'll fight on unless given "incontrovertible evidence"...
SHERIDAN: George, I've put my hand up and said "mistake", I've put my hand up and said "recklessness", I've put my hand up and said, "you know, in the balance of things, I've made a mistake", right?
I think what's happened to me since, eh, is a wee bit over the top because I feel as though I'm f*****g Julius Caesar, I feel as though I'm getting used as a teabag the now.
I ask, eh, I ask Alan and Keith to give me the opportunity to see it down and I say to them: "I guarantee you if I am presented with incontrovertible evidence — video tapes, CCTV, something of that character — I'll put my hand up and say ‘I'm sorry'...and I'll walk away.
"But I'm no' prepared to give in to f*****g bullying because that's what the News of the World, in my opinion, is doing right now — f*****g bullying. They have been told it's me but they can't prove it."
Alan (inaudible) disagrees, and says that he wants to talk to a few others about it. I said: "What do you mean talk to a few others about it?"
My biggest worry here is you know about it, he knows about it, I know about it and there's three or four others who I trust impeccably know about it. I say to him: "Look, fine, if you want. I disagree but fine."
Sheridan's fury surfaces as he tells McNeilage about the meeting called to discuss his sex life...
SHERIDAN: I get a phone call on the Wednesday or Thursday, eh, can I come to a meeting on Friday morning?
"What's the meeting for?"
"It's a meeting of as many executive members as possible."
"How, what's happened?"
"Well, we want to have a meeting about this."
"So who have you told?"
Nine people have been told. Nine f*****g people, including Carolyn Leckie, including, you know, Rosie Kane, including f*****g Catriona Grant, people who, politically, I've got f*****g problems with and have had for a long time, who don't particularly like me anyway.
And I say: "Eh, it's a Thursday night, I'm going to a Cathcart Branch meeting up in Castlemilk."
Alan's on the phone: "I want you to come to this meeting the morrow."
"What for?"
"I've had a word with these executive members and they all agree with me that you should admit to it."
So I f*****g blew the top then, I'm, I'm now p***** off that I'm f*****g getting people talking about me behind my back, people I don't trust and everything else.
So I say to him: "Why do you want me to come to the meeting, then?"
"Eh, so we can try and convince you..."
"Well, you've tried to convince me already. You've already convinced all these other people. You've obviously decided what should happen to me. I think it's a f*****g disgrace what you've done. You've went..."
And then we had a bit of an argument about it and he starts saying: "You've hogged the limelight for far too long, you've been in the spotlight. You think you're beyond reproach."
Things which I was saying to myself, "oh, wait a wee minute, what's f*****g going on here?" I'm getting really, now suspicious, so I say: "F*** it, I'm no' coming to the f*****g meeting."
Sheridan now tells how fellow MSP Colin Fox phoned to discuss the growing crisis...
SHERIDAN: First, this is the only other guy that's phoned me now. Says he's wanted to get my side of the story, he's heard Alan say what he's got to say, would it not be worthwhile meeting?
I says: "Well wait a wee minute Colin, Alan's told me that everybody agrees with him.
"So you're asking me to come to a meeting where everybody's already made up their minds."
He tries to convince me that everybody hasn't made up their mind yet. At the very least he hasn't made up his mind.
McNeilage explains that Baldassara is angry because he already KNEW the truth about Sheridan and had predicted it would come out into the open...
McNEILAGE: I think he's p***** off, Tam. Do you know how? I think he's p***** off because everything's now all surfacing, everything's now all surfacing that we f*****g warned you about f*****g years ago, right?
SHERIDAN: Fine, fine.
McNEILAGE: It's spilled milk and it's done, mate.
Sheridan goes on to explain what happened in advance of the committee meeting of November 9, 2004...
SHERIDAN: Wait a wee minute. I can tell you that. Tuesday, I'm going through on the train to, ehm, Edinburgh. Phone call from Allison Kane.
"Eh, Tommy, are you going to this EC meeting tonight?"
"What EC meeting are you talking about?"
I've been phoning people on the Monday not able to get anybody to get back to me. Fiz (Felicity Garvie, Sheridan's Parliamentary Assistant) never got back to me, Keith never got back to me, nobody's speaking to me.
"There's a special EC been called the night." First I've heard of it. I'm on the 11 o'clock train through to Edinburgh — sorry, I'm on the 10 o'clock train — I'm going through for the group meeting at half 11. First I've heard of it.
"Oh right, oh sorry, eh, there's a special EC on the night."
Okay, phone Colin. "What's all this about a special EC meeting that I don't know anything about?"
"Aye Tommy, sorry, aye, Allan Green should have told you yesterday. We've called, Alan McCombes has called a special EC meeting. He wants to put a motion that you should resign from the party. Sorry, resign from the convener..."
McNEILAGE: On the basis of stories, of the stories that have come out and...
SHERIDAN: On the basis of what they know. I says: "F*** sake, that's great, you're going to have a meeting that I don't even know about."
Meanwhile, I've arranged to go and see Lynne and Carol (Sheridan's sisters). They've no' seen the scan (Sheridan's wife Gail was then pregnant with the couple's first child).
The scan's a week old. They're f*****g angry that they've no' got a chance to see it. I've arranged to go and see them that night.
I says: "I'm going to my sisters' the night, f*** sake."
"Tommy, I'd appreciate if you could, if you could come to this meeting. I really would appreciate it."
I says: "Well fine."
He says: "But Frances and I want to see you this afternoon as well. We've cancelled the group meeting. Frances and I want to meet you."
Sheridan then talks about the meeting with fellow MSPs Colin Fox and Frances Curran...
SHERIDAN: We go round to a hotel, round the corner from the Parliament. Frances is sitting there. Colin's sitting there. I says: "Right, so what's happening?"
Frances: "Well I might as well get straight to the point, Tommy. I want your letter of resignation."
This is Frances who...who, you know, I've been, I've known for so long. She's no' spoke to me. She's no' spoke to me ever about this.
She's no' phoned me or f*** all. I want your letter of resignation! I says: "That's a cracking way to start the meeting Frances. Do I get to speak or is this just your opinion?"
"Well, we've decided, we've, we've met, we've decided."
I says: "So you've met and you've decided? It's just as well I didnae bother coming to any meetings, eh, because obviously your minds are all made up."
"Well, that's, that's the way it is."
Colin then intervenes, says: "Well, wait a wee minute, Frances, because I would actually appreciate if Tommy could get to say how he thinks we should approach it instead of just a resignation letter (inaudible) but I've no' made up my mind," he says.
So I tell them that I've been absolutely stupid, I've made a mistake, etc etc. I say to them: "If I'm presented with incontrovertible evidence, I walk away, I resign, I don't bring the party down. Ehm, I bring myself down and that's, that's just what happens."
I do say to them that the News of the World makes a living out of f*****g salacious stories about people.
The News of the World was f*****g involved with, you know, Scargill's paying his mortgage, etc, etc
McNEILAGE: I remember that
SHERIDAN: Everything, right? But no, they want my resignation, they want me to come to that meeting that night to explain myself.
Sheridan refers to Highland SSP organiser Duncan Rowan, who had already told the News of the World that Sheridan had an affair with Katrine Trolle...
SHERIDAN: And this is where I make the big mistake.
A f*****g huge mistake. Humungous f*****g mistake.
I go to the meeting. I go in. It's a room. The front room of the centre.
There's 19 people round a f*****g circle, sitting on desks, sitting on chairs. The atmosphere you could have cut it with a f*****g knife, man. Cut it with a knife.
Duncan f*****g shaking, shaking. f*****g (inaudible).
I then make the biggest mistake of my life by confessing something in front of 19 f*****g, what am I doing confessing in front of these c****?
C**** like this are telling me about how best to come forward and f*****g put my hand up, right?
Wait a wee minute now, let me finish the story, because then I do say my piece and I say what I want to do.
I say: "I'll walk away, I'll resign or if you would rather I stayed on until February and I stand down then I've got a baby coming anyway, I'm going to have a change in my life anyway, so if it makes sense stand down in February, blah blah blah.
"What I don't think would look good is if I walk away now.
"It'll look as though we're panicked. It'll look as though I've been sacked, blah blah blah."
Duncan makes a contribution. Hysterical.
"Tommy, I, I want to tell you there's a woman in a hospital bed the night. She could die the night.
"She's taken an overdose because she's been harassed by News of the World journalists outside her door, parked outside her door for days.
"They have been saying that she must admit an affair with you and she's taken an overdose.
She's in the hospital. I've checked and she's in the hospital, right, and I've had three phone calls.
"Her family say they're going to kill me. If she dies, they're going to kill me."
By the way, the meeting's already supercharged. Duncan's giving it f*****g laldy, bursts into tears. (inaudible) walks out the meeting.
Two or three people walk out after him. I'm sitting here now — I'm the bad b******.
Apparently I've put a lassie in hospital. Apparently I've put Duncan Rowan's life in danger because he's getting his life threatened.
‘He's told them about this affair'
What we now realise, of course, is Duncan's been taken for a f*****g kipper. The lassie is getting paid by the News of the World. The lassie has worked with the News of the World. The lassie s****** Duncan.
McNEILAGE: Has she snared you? Have you f*****g...
SHERIDAN: Did I? George I've never met her. I've never f*****g met the lassie. Right? Never met the lassie.
That summer there this f*****g lassie comes round the party.
Duncan's nae Lothario, he's nae f*****g stud but that lassie, you know, makes it plain that she's into him, s**** him, according to Stevie Arnott, he's smitten by her.
She then suddenly breaks it off a few weeks ago then contacts him two weeks ago, threatening to take her own life.
"Duncan, what's, there's something going on.
"Can you tell me about Tommy Sheridan because the News of the World say that I'm having an affair with him. They're saying I must admit to it."
What does Duncan do? Duncan comes to the meeting.
I don't know before that he's told a few people, particularly the Leckies of the world, he's told them about this affair, right?
They're all sitting there thinking I've had this affair. You've just asked me, reasonably enough, you've just asked me...
McNEILAGE: (inaudible) I know what f*****g like you are (inaudible).
Sheridan then continues to deny the substance of a News of the World story concerning Fiona McGuire...
SHERIDAN: If you did read it, you'd know it's s****.
Would I take somebody out for a meal?
Would I f*****g want somebody walking over me with high heels?
McNEILAGE: I know how they played Khan's story, I know that's not true, at the same time I know there's truth in it.
SHERIDAN: Okay, right fine, okay.
All those in the movement who believed Tommy was telling the truth must now ask themselves if the movement can continue with this kind of lying and deceit.
The political abc's of the movement is it is built on trust and honest relationships and conversely harmed by lies and political spin. Those who cynically went along with Tommy's lies, and I specifically accuse the SWP and CWI leadership, have a lot of explaining to do.
Those who naively believed those lies need to urgently rethink their politics. The movement is too important to be the property of one man. Lining up behind Tommy because he is the "charismatic leader" is precisely the type of thinking of Tito's Yugoslavia.
The Scottish left and the broader movement must critically examine the events of the last two years in the SSP. It's time to grow up - develop our own abilities and self confidence and support others to do the same.
Let's develop together an Interdependent movement not a codependent or dependant movement. One which honours honesty, values every contribution to human progress and works towards genuine participatory democracy without secrets and lies.
The transcript below is from the NotW website:
Sheridan held a series of tense meetings with friends and former colleagues as he tried to whip up support for his plan to sue the News of the World over stories about his private life.
One of those the MSP visited was George McNeilage — who’d been among the three best men at the politician’s June 2000 wedding to Gail Healy.
What Sheridan didn't know as he sat in McNeilage's Glasgow home was that EVERY word was being caught on video tape. This is the transcript of that meeting, which begins just after Sheridan’s arrival.
Sheridan is blunt as the conversation begins with him confirming he was confronted by Keith Baldassara and Alan McCombes about trips to Cupids...
TOMMY SHERIDAN: Right, obviously you've got a situation where, ehm, I was upset with Keith a couple of years ago because he told Alan.
GEORGE McNEILAGE: About the swingers?
SHERIDAN: About me going down to Manchester in 2002. And Alan pulled me up about it. And I said to him: 'Look, stupid, shouldnae have done it. Done it once before in '96 and went back in 2002.
"And cheap thrill but it's been done and that's it. At the time it was a great idea but I'm confident nothing will come back out of it."
McNeilage says he knows Sheridan went to the club with brother-in-law Andy McFarlane and a pal but Sheridan insists he can deny being the unnamed MSP in Anvar Khan's book as she has altered certain details to hide his identity.
McNEILAGE: Tam, I've read the article, I know who it is. She's wrote it coded but I know it's **** and I know it's f*****g Andy.
SHERIDAN: What's important, George, is the facts which she refers to.
McNEILAGE: What, the booze and the f*****g?
SHERIDAN: Well, number one, 2001. Right? Number two, she meets the guy the first time at it (Cupids) in 2001. Number three, she meets him in an Edinburgh bar in 2001.
Number four, she then has drunken sex with him after she's been taken for a meal by him later in 2001.
Number five, the guy tries to hide he's married.
Number six, we then drive from London to Manchester to go to a sex club, right?
McNEILAGE: Which I found f*****g strange.
SHERIDAN: All of that is nonsense. You know the real story. The News of the World have then ran the story "Married MSP affair".
Sheridan admits his relationship with Anvar but he is already calculating how he can use her intimate knowledge of him — particularly his hairy body — to cover his tracks. He went on to use a similar line in court.
SHERIDAN: There's been a few sessions. In 1992, me and ***** were sh*****g her. 1992, which is in certain respects my saving grace because if there's any story about what she knows about my personal habits or if she knows about I've got a hairy back or a hairy a***, of course she does because she f*****g sh****d me and I've admitted that. That's out in the open. That's a matter of public record.
McNEILAGE: I know that.
SHERIDAN: Alan comes on the phone, saying: "Is this you?" I said: "Of course it is. I'll speak to you the morrow." So I meet with Keith and Alan in the City Chambers and, ehm, Alan says to me: "Listen, I've had a long think about this and I think you should own up."
I says: "Well, wait a wee minute Alan, first of all I'm no' even f*****g accused of anything. Is this no' a wee bit harsh here?" The point is, Alan's suggestion to me is: "Just own up, people will forgive a sexual liaison, but they'll no' forgive a liar."
And I says: "Well look, you're asking me to own up to something when, if she now comes out and says it's me, she's going to have to say that she lied in her book."
McNEILAGE: But that could be f*** all to her, Tam.
SHERIDAN: If you let me take it to (inaudible) conclusion because it might be f*** all to her but it's no' f*** all in a court of law. In a court of law, she's made a c*** of herself.
In a court of law she's said one thing in a newspaper article, one thing in a book, which I've had checked out.
She's...throughout her book, she's talked about how everything is true.
So I say to Alan and Keith that, what I want to do is to face it down. I think they've got f*** all on me.
I think if they had anything on me they'd have used it long before now.
Next, he confirms his intention to lie, saying he'll fight on unless given "incontrovertible evidence"...
SHERIDAN: George, I've put my hand up and said "mistake", I've put my hand up and said "recklessness", I've put my hand up and said, "you know, in the balance of things, I've made a mistake", right?
I think what's happened to me since, eh, is a wee bit over the top because I feel as though I'm f*****g Julius Caesar, I feel as though I'm getting used as a teabag the now.
I ask, eh, I ask Alan and Keith to give me the opportunity to see it down and I say to them: "I guarantee you if I am presented with incontrovertible evidence — video tapes, CCTV, something of that character — I'll put my hand up and say ‘I'm sorry'...and I'll walk away.
"But I'm no' prepared to give in to f*****g bullying because that's what the News of the World, in my opinion, is doing right now — f*****g bullying. They have been told it's me but they can't prove it."
Alan (inaudible) disagrees, and says that he wants to talk to a few others about it. I said: "What do you mean talk to a few others about it?"
My biggest worry here is you know about it, he knows about it, I know about it and there's three or four others who I trust impeccably know about it. I say to him: "Look, fine, if you want. I disagree but fine."
Sheridan's fury surfaces as he tells McNeilage about the meeting called to discuss his sex life...
SHERIDAN: I get a phone call on the Wednesday or Thursday, eh, can I come to a meeting on Friday morning?
"What's the meeting for?"
"It's a meeting of as many executive members as possible."
"How, what's happened?"
"Well, we want to have a meeting about this."
"So who have you told?"
Nine people have been told. Nine f*****g people, including Carolyn Leckie, including, you know, Rosie Kane, including f*****g Catriona Grant, people who, politically, I've got f*****g problems with and have had for a long time, who don't particularly like me anyway.
And I say: "Eh, it's a Thursday night, I'm going to a Cathcart Branch meeting up in Castlemilk."
Alan's on the phone: "I want you to come to this meeting the morrow."
"What for?"
"I've had a word with these executive members and they all agree with me that you should admit to it."
So I f*****g blew the top then, I'm, I'm now p***** off that I'm f*****g getting people talking about me behind my back, people I don't trust and everything else.
So I say to him: "Why do you want me to come to the meeting, then?"
"Eh, so we can try and convince you..."
"Well, you've tried to convince me already. You've already convinced all these other people. You've obviously decided what should happen to me. I think it's a f*****g disgrace what you've done. You've went..."
And then we had a bit of an argument about it and he starts saying: "You've hogged the limelight for far too long, you've been in the spotlight. You think you're beyond reproach."
Things which I was saying to myself, "oh, wait a wee minute, what's f*****g going on here?" I'm getting really, now suspicious, so I say: "F*** it, I'm no' coming to the f*****g meeting."
Sheridan now tells how fellow MSP Colin Fox phoned to discuss the growing crisis...
SHERIDAN: First, this is the only other guy that's phoned me now. Says he's wanted to get my side of the story, he's heard Alan say what he's got to say, would it not be worthwhile meeting?
I says: "Well wait a wee minute Colin, Alan's told me that everybody agrees with him.
"So you're asking me to come to a meeting where everybody's already made up their minds."
He tries to convince me that everybody hasn't made up their mind yet. At the very least he hasn't made up his mind.
McNeilage explains that Baldassara is angry because he already KNEW the truth about Sheridan and had predicted it would come out into the open...
McNEILAGE: I think he's p***** off, Tam. Do you know how? I think he's p***** off because everything's now all surfacing, everything's now all surfacing that we f*****g warned you about f*****g years ago, right?
SHERIDAN: Fine, fine.
McNEILAGE: It's spilled milk and it's done, mate.
Sheridan goes on to explain what happened in advance of the committee meeting of November 9, 2004...
SHERIDAN: Wait a wee minute. I can tell you that. Tuesday, I'm going through on the train to, ehm, Edinburgh. Phone call from Allison Kane.
"Eh, Tommy, are you going to this EC meeting tonight?"
"What EC meeting are you talking about?"
I've been phoning people on the Monday not able to get anybody to get back to me. Fiz (Felicity Garvie, Sheridan's Parliamentary Assistant) never got back to me, Keith never got back to me, nobody's speaking to me.
"There's a special EC been called the night." First I've heard of it. I'm on the 11 o'clock train through to Edinburgh — sorry, I'm on the 10 o'clock train — I'm going through for the group meeting at half 11. First I've heard of it.
"Oh right, oh sorry, eh, there's a special EC on the night."
Okay, phone Colin. "What's all this about a special EC meeting that I don't know anything about?"
"Aye Tommy, sorry, aye, Allan Green should have told you yesterday. We've called, Alan McCombes has called a special EC meeting. He wants to put a motion that you should resign from the party. Sorry, resign from the convener..."
McNEILAGE: On the basis of stories, of the stories that have come out and...
SHERIDAN: On the basis of what they know. I says: "F*** sake, that's great, you're going to have a meeting that I don't even know about."
Meanwhile, I've arranged to go and see Lynne and Carol (Sheridan's sisters). They've no' seen the scan (Sheridan's wife Gail was then pregnant with the couple's first child).
The scan's a week old. They're f*****g angry that they've no' got a chance to see it. I've arranged to go and see them that night.
I says: "I'm going to my sisters' the night, f*** sake."
"Tommy, I'd appreciate if you could, if you could come to this meeting. I really would appreciate it."
I says: "Well fine."
He says: "But Frances and I want to see you this afternoon as well. We've cancelled the group meeting. Frances and I want to meet you."
Sheridan then talks about the meeting with fellow MSPs Colin Fox and Frances Curran...
SHERIDAN: We go round to a hotel, round the corner from the Parliament. Frances is sitting there. Colin's sitting there. I says: "Right, so what's happening?"
Frances: "Well I might as well get straight to the point, Tommy. I want your letter of resignation."
This is Frances who...who, you know, I've been, I've known for so long. She's no' spoke to me. She's no' spoke to me ever about this.
She's no' phoned me or f*** all. I want your letter of resignation! I says: "That's a cracking way to start the meeting Frances. Do I get to speak or is this just your opinion?"
"Well, we've decided, we've, we've met, we've decided."
I says: "So you've met and you've decided? It's just as well I didnae bother coming to any meetings, eh, because obviously your minds are all made up."
"Well, that's, that's the way it is."
Colin then intervenes, says: "Well, wait a wee minute, Frances, because I would actually appreciate if Tommy could get to say how he thinks we should approach it instead of just a resignation letter (inaudible) but I've no' made up my mind," he says.
So I tell them that I've been absolutely stupid, I've made a mistake, etc etc. I say to them: "If I'm presented with incontrovertible evidence, I walk away, I resign, I don't bring the party down. Ehm, I bring myself down and that's, that's just what happens."
I do say to them that the News of the World makes a living out of f*****g salacious stories about people.
The News of the World was f*****g involved with, you know, Scargill's paying his mortgage, etc, etc
McNEILAGE: I remember that
SHERIDAN: Everything, right? But no, they want my resignation, they want me to come to that meeting that night to explain myself.
Sheridan refers to Highland SSP organiser Duncan Rowan, who had already told the News of the World that Sheridan had an affair with Katrine Trolle...
SHERIDAN: And this is where I make the big mistake.
A f*****g huge mistake. Humungous f*****g mistake.
I go to the meeting. I go in. It's a room. The front room of the centre.
There's 19 people round a f*****g circle, sitting on desks, sitting on chairs. The atmosphere you could have cut it with a f*****g knife, man. Cut it with a knife.
Duncan f*****g shaking, shaking. f*****g (inaudible).
I then make the biggest mistake of my life by confessing something in front of 19 f*****g, what am I doing confessing in front of these c****?
C**** like this are telling me about how best to come forward and f*****g put my hand up, right?
Wait a wee minute now, let me finish the story, because then I do say my piece and I say what I want to do.
I say: "I'll walk away, I'll resign or if you would rather I stayed on until February and I stand down then I've got a baby coming anyway, I'm going to have a change in my life anyway, so if it makes sense stand down in February, blah blah blah.
"What I don't think would look good is if I walk away now.
"It'll look as though we're panicked. It'll look as though I've been sacked, blah blah blah."
Duncan makes a contribution. Hysterical.
"Tommy, I, I want to tell you there's a woman in a hospital bed the night. She could die the night.
"She's taken an overdose because she's been harassed by News of the World journalists outside her door, parked outside her door for days.
"They have been saying that she must admit an affair with you and she's taken an overdose.
She's in the hospital. I've checked and she's in the hospital, right, and I've had three phone calls.
"Her family say they're going to kill me. If she dies, they're going to kill me."
By the way, the meeting's already supercharged. Duncan's giving it f*****g laldy, bursts into tears. (inaudible) walks out the meeting.
Two or three people walk out after him. I'm sitting here now — I'm the bad b******.
Apparently I've put a lassie in hospital. Apparently I've put Duncan Rowan's life in danger because he's getting his life threatened.
‘He's told them about this affair'
What we now realise, of course, is Duncan's been taken for a f*****g kipper. The lassie is getting paid by the News of the World. The lassie has worked with the News of the World. The lassie s****** Duncan.
McNEILAGE: Has she snared you? Have you f*****g...
SHERIDAN: Did I? George I've never met her. I've never f*****g met the lassie. Right? Never met the lassie.
That summer there this f*****g lassie comes round the party.
Duncan's nae Lothario, he's nae f*****g stud but that lassie, you know, makes it plain that she's into him, s**** him, according to Stevie Arnott, he's smitten by her.
She then suddenly breaks it off a few weeks ago then contacts him two weeks ago, threatening to take her own life.
"Duncan, what's, there's something going on.
"Can you tell me about Tommy Sheridan because the News of the World say that I'm having an affair with him. They're saying I must admit to it."
What does Duncan do? Duncan comes to the meeting.
I don't know before that he's told a few people, particularly the Leckies of the world, he's told them about this affair, right?
They're all sitting there thinking I've had this affair. You've just asked me, reasonably enough, you've just asked me...
McNEILAGE: (inaudible) I know what f*****g like you are (inaudible).
Sheridan then continues to deny the substance of a News of the World story concerning Fiona McGuire...
SHERIDAN: If you did read it, you'd know it's s****.
Would I take somebody out for a meal?
Would I f*****g want somebody walking over me with high heels?
McNEILAGE: I know how they played Khan's story, I know that's not true, at the same time I know there's truth in it.
SHERIDAN: Okay, right fine, okay.
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