Background
Tommy Sheridan was a leading figure in the negotiations to establish the Scottish Socialist Alliance in 1996, which evolved into the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) in 1998. He was elected to the Scottish Parliament in 1999 as a Glasgow representative of the SSP which he remained until he broke with the SSP in the aftermath of the court case to form Solidarity.
He was the convenor of the SSP from its formation until 11 November 2004 when he was asked to resign from this post, by a unanimous vote of the Executive Committee (EC) of the SSP.
He later claimed to have resigned due to 'personal reasons' citing a desire to spend more time with his family. At the time of his announcement, his wife Gail was expecting their first child, and this was the reason Sheridan cited as being his primary motivation for resigning:
"I cannot continue to be the party convener and be a proper father. We are entering uncharted waters, Gail and I. We are older parents, and we are excited but petrified. Since the announcement of Gail's pregnancy, it has focused my mind completely. We have been discussing this for some weeks."
After this announcement, the News of the World ran a series of articles, alleging that he had committed adultery. Sheridan strenuously denied the accusations and quickly announced his intention to sue. The EC of the Scottish Socialist Party requested that he pursue a political rather than legal response to the allegations and declined to publicly back his court case.
As part of their defence, the News of the World demanded that the Scottish Socialist Party hand over all documents related to the executive meeting immediately prior to Tommy Sheridan's resignation. The executive Committee of the party declined and publicly requested that Sheridan abandon his court case. In refusing to hand over the documents, party policy co-ordinator Alan McCombes was found in contempt of court and jailed for 12 days, while the SSP offices and McCombes' private home were raided by messengers-at-arms.
A stormy meeting of the SSP National Council fairly narrowly defeated a motion from the EC to continue refusing to hand over the minutes to the court, effectively supporting a request by Sheridan that they should be handed over. It also voted to give him "full political support" in his defamation action.
Read more about this topic: Sheridan V News Group Newspapers
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