Donna Ferentes said:
Not unless you're prepared to pay Urban's legal fees, it isn't.
They wouldn't dare. Take a look at this.
Part one.
UNITED LEFT STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO TOMMY SHERIDAN’S
DEFAMATION CASE, 04/08/06
This summer has seen slaughter in the Middle East,
Blair lurch from crisis to crisis, the world economy
hover over the precipice as oil prices rocket and the
ruling Labour administration in Scotland admit it may
be in decline at the 2007 Scottish elections. Yet,
against this backdrop, the Scottish Socialist Party
has been incapacitated and distracted by a grotesque
circus, watching in horror as our former convener and
Glasgow MSP Tommy Sheridan pursued his bogus
defamation action in the Court of Session in
Edinburgh. His victory today in obtaining £200 000
damages from News International is a hollow one,
because of the despicable things he did, in order to
achieve this.
For five long weeks the party has been splashed over
the front pages of the tabloid press – for all the
wrong reasons. Even those initially empathetic to
Tommy Sheridan’s fight with the Murdoch press will
have been stunned by the events of this case. But this
is not a sex scandal, no matter how the tabloid papers
sell it. It is an absolute political scandal.
On 31st October 2004 the News of the World printed a
story about an unnamed MSP who had an affair with
Anvar Khan, a journalist and visited a sex club in
Manchester with her and others. This story was based
on a chapter of Ms Khan’s book “Pretty Wild”. Members
of the EC were aware that Tommy Sheridan had
frequented this sex club in the past, Tommy Sheridan
was confronted that he was the unnamed MSP. Comrades
attempted to meet with Tommy Sheridan in the days
after the News of the World article however he refused
to meet with them. Some members of the EC met
together informally to discuss what action should be
taken as there were concerns that there may be follow
up stories. There was disappointment at Tommy
Sheridan’s reckless behaviour. The National
Secretary, Allan Green, and the Co-Chairs – Carolyn
Leckie and Catriona Grant - convened an EC meeting for
the 9th November 2004. It was made clear to all EC
members that this was an emergency EC to deal with a
specific crisis in the SSP before attending. Tommy
Sheridan attended this meeting and made a statement
about visiting Cupid’s sex club on two occasions in
1996 and 2002. He admitted his behaviour was reckless,
asked for support but wanted to deal with the events
“in his own way” which included denying the visits to
the club, and that he would sue the News of the World
on the basis that they “could not prove” their
allegations.
It was not moral outrage, but his preparedness to
pursue a reckless action by lying in court that was
the principal factor behind the Executive’s unanimous
decision to force Sheridan to resign. The Executive
took the view that the consequences of such an action
would be disastrous for both Tommy Sheridan and the
party. This meeting was minuted as it was an EC
meeting, as per the constitution of the party.
Barbara Scott, Minute Secretary, was visibly taking
notes at the meeting. At no time was there a request
for the meeting not to be minuted by anyone in
attendance at the meeting (including Tommy Sheridan).
It was agreed that this decision was to be reported,
verbally, to a series of aggregate meetings of SSP
members in November 2004 by the Regional Organisers
and those present at the EC.
The minutes were prepared by Barbara Scott and they
were agreed and ratified unanimously at the EC of the
24th November 2004. Tommy Sheridan asked that the
minutes of the 9th November 2004 be kept confidential,
this was agreed and an emergency motion to keep the
minutes confidential was put to the National Council
on 27th November 2004. This emergency motion was
accepted by the National Council.
Tommy Sheridan resigned on the 10th November 2004. On
the 12th November 2004 he disclosed publicly that he
had had a relationship with Anvar Khan in 1992 in an
article in the Scottish Mirror (this fact had NOT been
discussed at the EC). He denied that he was the
unnamed politician of the 31st October 2004 story and
denied having any affairs since being married in 2000.
On 14th November 2004, there was a follow-up story in
the News of the World regarding Fiona Maguire, and
another story about Duncan Rowan, North East Regional
Organiser, who had gone to the News of the World in
the belief he was protecting Fiona Maguire, and he
named another comrade to the News of the World,
without that comrade's permission. At the EC, Steve
Arnott reported that Duncan Rowan had resigned and
apologised. Fiona Maguire had not been discussed at
any length at the 9th November 2004 meeting except by
being alluded to (though not named) by Duncan Rowan,
who was in an upset and agitated state.
There was an attempt to move on after the November
2004 events, however the Scottish media were used by
Tommy Sheridan to launch attacks on the party and
comrades in the party, using terms such as "plotters",
"dark arts" etc.
Despite these attacks, no-one could have imagined the
lengths that Tommy Sheridan and some of his supporters
would go to to rewrite the party’s history.
In the intervening 18 months Tommy Sheridan launched
an incredible campaign of disinformation, inside and
outside the party, alleging that he was ‘done in’ by
those supposedly jealous of his status, or driven by
personal and political ambition. This is complete
fantasy and nonsense.
In fact, it was Tommy Sheridan’s closest friends and
comrades who advised him of the inherent dangers of
the kamikaze path that he was preparing to embark on.
Their advice has been proven to be 100% correct. Tommy
Sheridan would have been wise to have listened.
Instead he has used smears, innuendo and outright lies
to attack those same comrades and friends – in a vain
attempt to save his own vanity and political career.
The Scottish Socialist Party has been tortured and
tormented by the court case brought by Sheridan. The
state has been able to intervene in the internal
affairs of the SSP, the party has been heavily fined
in the run-up to the court proceedings and comrades
called on to testify in the case have been placed in
the position where they have been offered a choice of
being "either scabs or liars", to cite one saying
making the rounds in the SSP during the case.
The case has been an unmitigated disaster for the SSP,
brought about by the wounded vanity of one man, Mr.
Sheridan.
The strategy to defy the courts' pursuit of our minute
of the 9th November was agreed at the EC of 21st May
2006 as it was congruent to the democratic decision of
27th November 2004. The minutes of the 9th November
2004 meeting were handed over to the courts after a
heated debate at the SSP National Council on May 28,
2006 – a position supported at the time by Tommy
Sheridan – and against the wishes of the Executive. At
the National Council, Tommy Sheridan appealed to hand
the minutes over and at no time suggested that these
minutes were fabricated in an elaborate attempt to
frame him. At the time of the National Council, the
News of the World and their legal team had been handed
a set a false minutes that had not been seen, agreed
or ratified by the EC at any time. Where these
minutes came from remain a mystery, yet Tommy Sheridan
during his court case referred to them as correct
minutes until the judge, Lord Turnbull, ruled them out
of order.
Subsequently, leading members of the SSP have been
dragged through the highest civil court in Scotland
and had their honesty, integrity and socialist
commitment questioned – not by the News of the World,
but by one of the party’s own members – Tommy
Sheridan.
Once the minutes were in the hands of the court and
the defiance strategy defeated, the choice facing SSP
members was to tell the truth about the meeting or
state that the minutes were fabricated, thus lending
support to Tommy Sheridan’s bizarre allegation that he
had been framed by the very members he had brought to
court.
Some comrades have suggested that those forced into
court should have lied to protect Tommy, or at the
very least, say that they could not remember what
happened at the meeting. That is just not a serious or
credible position. How would this have applied to the
Minute Secretary, Barbara Scott? Do comrades really
think that Barbara Scott should have stood in the
witness box and said that she could not remember
taking the minutes or that she fabricated them as she
was delusional at the time or part of a political plot
to undermine Tommy Sheridan? Telling the truth was the
only viable option.
SSP members have watched with shock and disgust as
their former Convenor and Glasgow MSP accused 11
members of the SSP, including Colin Fox, of framing
him. The SSP United Left defends absolutely those
members who, under protest, were forced to attend
court and tell the truth about the party’s history and
to defend their socialist integrity.
To call these people grasses, traitors or scabs, as
some of Sheridan’s leading supporters have done is
both laughable and outrageous– yet their choice of
language gives the game away about who is telling the
truth in this sordid affair. If the 11 comrades were
lying, then why are they not just called plain liars?
x off the scale ...
