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NAVIGATION
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Socialists are set for a tanning now
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Socialists are set for a
tanning now
Tue 16 Nov 2004 Evening News (Edinburgh)
PETER MCMAHON
WHATEVER you think of the man’s politics, you have
to admire his brass - or, more accurately, bronzed - neck.
On Sunday, when a story containing lurid allegations about
his sexual predilections was published, Tommy Sheridan went out for the rolls,
bought the papers and then visited a sun-bed salon to top up his tan because he
was feeling "a wee bit peely-wally".
And well he might. It has been one hell of a week for the
perma-tanned socialist, who has discovered just how unpleasant it is to be on
the receiving end of the attentions of a newspaper which he described as a
"scummy rag", even though it has been alleged that some of the report
was merely repeating allegations made by his own far-left "comrades".
One can only smile at the delightful irony of Mr Sheridan’s
intention to sue the paper concerned using what in his prison-going anti-poll
tax days he used to describe as the "capitalist courts", but there
are more profound issues arising out of this than whether Mr Sheridan resorts
to the courts he railed against in his demagogic youth.
On a personal level, it is to be hoped that he and his wife
Gail can get through this crisis and that the pressure this has brought on
their relationship - even if there is no truth in the allegations - does not
have a harmful effect on her pregnancy.
For Scottish politics, the Sheridan imbroglio has major
implications. The voting public, increasingly disillusioned by the main
political parties, has been attracted in growing numbers to Mr Sheridan’s brand
of fiery socialism, red in tooth and claw.
But now that the man whose name was put on the SSP’s ballot
papers, such was his recognition level, is no longer the party leader, the
assorted bunch of hard-left factions which he miraculously united are reverting
to type: they are falling out spectacularly.
There is no need to go into the detail of the origins of
the SSP, except to say that it is an amalgam of several far-left groups,
including the old Militant Tendency, which did do much harm to Labour in the
1970s and 80s; the Socialist Workers Party, which can best be described as a
far-left grouping which promoted industrial unrest and had no time for
parliamentary democracy; as well as feminists and anti-nuclear protesters.
Confused? You would be if their differences with the others were described
further.
It is enough to say that it was extraordinary that in
Scotland these factions came together under one banner with Mr Sheridan elected
as their leader. Thanks to his high profile and the PR system of election they
managed to get six of their number elected to Holyrood.
And that was the beginning of the end for their leader.
Observers of the far-left - the trainspotters of politics - suspect that each
of the groups has retained their own internal organisation and their
fundamentalist belief that only their way is the true socialist way.
A leader who was popular with the public and used sun-beds
was therefore highly suspect.
So the leader had to go. Tommy’s hero Leon Trotsky was
dispatched by a Stalinist agent using an ice-axe. In the modern age, his comrades
had allegedly chosen the journalistic equivalent - briefing a Sunday
"scummy rag" on allegations about his sex life. It may not have ended
Mr Sheridan’s life, but it certainly ended his political life.
What his comrades may not realise is that it has ended
theirs too. The "working-class" voters in no-hope estates backed
Tommy - they all know him by his first name - not because they understood his
revolutionary politics, but because they thought he spoke, indeed shouted, for
them while the conventional political parties were quiet.
There were also a number of "middle-class" voters
who gave their second vote to the SSP. Not because they believed that Tommy,
first-name terms again, would ever be elected to introduce the policies that
would tax them until the pips squeaked, but because they wanted to express
their disgust, justified or otherwise, at New Labour and particularly at Tony
Blair’s conduct of the war in Iraq.
Without Mr Sheridan at their head, the SSP will have no-one
who will be recognised by these two key groups of the electorate and the
party’s electoral fortunes are bound to suffer. For most political parties that
would be a disaster, but for many in the SSP it will be a relief to see Tommy
gone.
They can now happily get back to their bitter internal
disputes over the definitions of socialism and how best to ferment the uprising
of the working classes they delude themselves into thinking is only a
revolutionary moment away. |
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Sheridan finds himself alone in the party crowd
 ROBBIE DINWOODIE, Chief Scottish
Political Correspondent
The Herald (Glasgow) 17 November 05
IT was supposed to be a demonstration of a united
front by the party.
However, as members of the Scottish Socialists arrived
in committee room three at Holyrood yesterday to discuss their leadership,
there was a significant figure missing.
Tommy Sheridan, until last week the party's convener and
still its best-known public face, was not in attendance.
Four other MSPs arrived first — Carolyn Leckie, Rosie
Kane, Rosemary Byrne and Frances Curran. As the four women took their seats at
one end of the table, Ms Curran joked: "Anyone else to come?"
Alan McCombes, the party's policy co-ordinator, took his
seat next and then Colin Fox, the Lothians MSP, sat down at the other end from
his parliamentary colleagues, leaving just one empty chair for the main
attraction.
"Has he gone for a sunbed session?" asked one
reporter, who was chided by Ms Kane for his cheek. Then came a barbed question
from Ms Byrne: "Does he know where this committee room is?"
Then as Mr Sheridan finally made his entrance, Mr Fox
announced: "It's the late Tommy Sheridan."
The united front did not seem to be going to plan.
Last week, Mr Sheridan painted his stepping down from
the party convenership as a happy decision to spend more time with his pregnant
wife, rather than a desperate reaction to press-fuelled rumours about his
private life.
However, speculation turned to specific allegations in a
Sunday newspaper and Mr Sheridan has said that he intends to take legal action
to clear his reputation.
Mr McCombes did his best to keep the questions away from
the former leader's private life or the party's internal machinations.
But as Mr Sheridan looked on in evident discomfort, it
was left to Mr McCombes to try to square the circle of why a party inspired by
collectivism was unable to take a collective stance in backing the fallen
leader.
Indeed, even as individual MSPs, members were reluctant
to be drawn on the claims made against Mr Sheridan.
Mr McCombes said: "As a party, we do not have a
position on people's private lives.
"As a collective leadership of the party, we do not
wish to comment people's private lives.
"If there are allegations in the media we
personally offer Tommy personal support for the crisis he is in.
"We have huge sympathy for anybody who has been
under the type of scrutiny Tommy has been under.
"He has been deluged with accusations and we have
total sympathy for Tommy's position."
Ms Leckie said there was no official party backing
behind any legal challenge and when asked whether she personally supported Mr
Sheridan, she replied: "I don't know what it is you are asking me."
Mr McCombes, a long-time associate of Mr Sheridan and
co-author with him on a recent book on the future of socialism, paid tribute to
the former convener.
"We will not hide the fact that Tommy's standing
down represents a setback for the SSP," he said.
"It is the close of a chapter, a glorious chapter,
in the SSP, where we have taken politics by storm."
But he went on: "I will also make the point that
Tommy's role as party convener did not confer any special powers on Tommy – or
on anyone who may replace him.
"Unlike some mainstream parties, the SSP is a
democratic grassroots, bottom-up party where the members take the decisions
through their elected bodies.
"Tommy had no powers of patronage, no powers of
decision-making – he has one vote, as does every other member, and that will
apply to any future convener."
He then outlined the procedures which lie ahead for the
party leading up to its council meeting in December and national conference in
February, along with the options to be considered.
Ms Leckie, as business manager, said the presiding
officer had agreed to permit collective leadership in which five MSPs would
share the position, taking it in turns to speak and ask questions according to
their portfolios.
The December meeting will decide whether this should be
the party's mode of leadership, but more likely is sticking with a single
convener or perhaps adopting the Greens' model of having two co-conveners on a
gender-balanced basis.
But the questioning focused on why last week's emergency
meeting of the party's executive had agreed it was right for Mr Sheridan to
stand down so abruptly, and why the party hierarchy did not seem to be backing
him resolutely.
Ms Leckie in particular was incensed by what she claimed
were "sexist smears about women" and suggestions of manoeuvring which
were "categorically not the case".
She added: "We are not avoiding questions but we
have a democratic process and our members come first, with the media not even
second." Asked whether she denied that anyone had undermined Mr Sheridan,
she responded: "Yes, absolutely."
After the conference, Ms Leckie was asked about the
events following last week's meeting and any possible leadership contest
between herself and Mr Fox.
"There has been absolutely no discussion of
that," she said. "There are things that are a lot more important. The
SSP is and always has been a collective, always been a democracy."
She added: "A man resigns and somehow women get the
blame and almost the whole press corps is male. I am very perturbed by what is
going on. It is naked sexism."
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Like the rope supports a hanging man...
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'Not those specific allegations, no'
Frances
Curran MSP
Sheridan's private life 'on
agenda'
Wed 17 Nov 2004 Evening News (Edinburgh)
A SOCIALIST MSP has admitted the party
discussed allegations about Tommy Sheridan’s private life before his
resignation as leader - but not the ones over which he has threatened to sue.
Mr Sheridan has insisted his decision to stand down was
prompted by the need to spend more time with his wife Gail, who is having a difficult
pregnancy.
But in a television interview, SSP West of Scotland MSP
Frances Curran said the meeting last week which approved his resignation also
discussed allegations against Mr Sheridan - though not the ones published in a
Sunday newspaper at the weekend.
Mr Sheridan has announced plans to sue the News of the
World over its claims he had a four-year affair with a party worker in
Aberdeen.
In her interview last night, Ms Curran initially explained
the decision by the SSP executive on Mr Sheridan’s resignation by saying:
"We agreed for the best interests of the party and for the best interests
of Tommy, given the pressures that he has, both personally and the allegations
that are now subject to a court action, it would be better for him to stand
down."
But asked to confirm the meeting discussed the News of the
World allegations, she said: "Not those specific allegations, no."
She added: "There was a discussion about his personal
life and some allegations."
At a press conference attended by all six Scottish
Socialist MSPs yesterday, the party said it would operate a collective
leadership between now and December 12, when the party’s national council will
decide how to replace Mr Sheridan. |
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Leckie, McCombes tipped for SSP bid
18 November 05 Evening Times (Glasgow)
CONTROL of the Scottish Socialist Party
could be seized by MSP Carolyn Leckie and backroom chief Alan McCombes.
The pair, who are romantically linked, have
emerged as front runners to take over from Tommy Sheridan, who resigned last
week.
After Mr Sheridan, Ms Leckie is the party's most
effective performer in the Scottish Parliament and Mr McCombes is the SSP
policy chief and helped found the party.
Ms Leckie is believed to have the support of MSPs
Rosie Kane and Frances Curran.
Nominations are already open and although Ms
Leckie nor Mr McCombes have yet to declare themselves, a whispering campaign
about their relationship has already begun.
Miss Leckie, a single mother, said: "My
personal life is my personal life. It is nobody's business."
Mr McCombes has children by a previous marriage,
but split from his wife three years ago.
He said: "I think if someone nominated me
and someone nominated Carolyn and if we were in a relationship then it could be
in the public interest." |
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© TommyGate 2004
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