Last year former MSP and former Leader of The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) won £200 000 in damages from the News of the World in a libel action at the High Court in Edinburgh, after they had alleged that he was a serial adulterer, swinger and user of drugs. Four of his SSP MSP colleagues testified against him in the trial and one, Rosemary Byrne, in his favour.
Sheridan and Byrne subsequently set up their own party Solidarity (calling a Trot faction by this name is a gross insult to Polish Solidarity) as an offshoot of the SSP. In the 2007 elections both factions got creamed and all 6 Trot MSPs were kicked out on their arses.
Shortly after the trial finished Lothian & Borders Constabulary commenced a investigation into potential perjury during the trial and on the 17th December 2007 Tommy Sheridan was charged with perjury. Earlier on this month former MSP Rosemary Byrne was charged as were Solidarity acolytes Jock Penman and Graham McIver.
Today the news breaks that his wife Gail and Father-in-Law Angus Healy are being questioned by Lothian & Border's finest over more perjury allegations. During the trial Gail claimed that Tommy would be "in the Clyde with a piece of concrete tied round him" if she thought there was any truth in the allegations. His Father-in-Law gave him an alibi for three of the times when he was supposedly taking part in threesomes in a Glasgow hotel.
The maximum penalty for perjury in Scotland is 10 years in prison.
Showing posts with label Rosemary Byrne. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rosemary Byrne. Show all posts
Tuesday, 19 February 2008
Sunday, 16 December 2007
Tommy the Trot "helping police with their enquiries"
Former MSP & former Leader of the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP), Tommy Sheridan, has been arrested by 3 detectives from Lothian & Borders Police at 13.10hrs this afternoon.
It seems his arrest is to answer questions which allege perjury during last year's victory in his defamation case against the News of the World. Much to the surprise of many Scots, Sheridan was cleared by a jury at the end of the 4 week trial. The News of the World described his win as "perverse" and threatened to appeal.
During the trial 4 of the SSP's 6 MSP's testified against Sheridan and one colleague backed him.
The other upshot of the trial was that the SSP split wide open, with Sheridan setting up another Trot party titled "Solidarity" (sic). At the subsequent Scottish Parliament Elections in May 2007 all 6 lost their seats, including Irvine based Rosemary Byrne (someone whose views I strongly disagree with, but greatly respect the hard work she put in for her constituents).
That's about all that is known for now but I suspect that there will be further developments in the next few days.
It seems his arrest is to answer questions which allege perjury during last year's victory in his defamation case against the News of the World. Much to the surprise of many Scots, Sheridan was cleared by a jury at the end of the 4 week trial. The News of the World described his win as "perverse" and threatened to appeal.
During the trial 4 of the SSP's 6 MSP's testified against Sheridan and one colleague backed him.
The other upshot of the trial was that the SSP split wide open, with Sheridan setting up another Trot party titled "Solidarity" (sic). At the subsequent Scottish Parliament Elections in May 2007 all 6 lost their seats, including Irvine based Rosemary Byrne (someone whose views I strongly disagree with, but greatly respect the hard work she put in for her constituents).
That's about all that is known for now but I suspect that there will be further developments in the next few days.
Friday, 23 March 2007
Solidarity/SSP
I got home from the office last night to discover a 4 page colour tabloid from Solidarity, which had been delivered by the Post Office. I know that this has also been delivered around Glasgow.
Quite frankly, it's not inspiring reading and I'm sure that they could have targeted their niche market more effectively. I do understand that it's part of the attempt by Rosemary Byrne to save her South of Scotland list seat. When she was elected in '03 it was by a small margin and a reduction in the vote of less than 1% would have cost her the seat. With a split-left ticket and polls showing a melt-down in their votes, re-election looks like a forlorn hope.
The SSP/Solidarity schism has been an interesting spectator sport over the last few months but I suspect that between them they'll be lucky to have 1 MSP after the election on May 3rd. It will also be quite interesting to see where their voters transfer their political alleigance.
Quite frankly, it's not inspiring reading and I'm sure that they could have targeted their niche market more effectively. I do understand that it's part of the attempt by Rosemary Byrne to save her South of Scotland list seat. When she was elected in '03 it was by a small margin and a reduction in the vote of less than 1% would have cost her the seat. With a split-left ticket and polls showing a melt-down in their votes, re-election looks like a forlorn hope.
The SSP/Solidarity schism has been an interesting spectator sport over the last few months but I suspect that between them they'll be lucky to have 1 MSP after the election on May 3rd. It will also be quite interesting to see where their voters transfer their political alleigance.
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