Tommy Sheridan’s conviction today for perjury was utterly inevitable.
Six years ago, as leader of the Scottish Socialist Party, he proposed to sue a tabloid newspaper over stories he knew to be true and demanded that I and our party went along with his lies. All his closest friends and political allies of 20 years urged him not to take such a reckless course of action.
All those who have been falsely denounced by him and his allies as liars, plotters, perjurers and political backstabbers have been cleared.
The idea that there was a conspiracy involving Rupert Murdoch, Lothian and Borders Police and the SSP is complete nonsense. Yet this is the narrative that Tommy Sheridan and his supporters pedalled for the past 4 years.
By his actions over the past six years Tommy Sheridan has disgraced himself and negated his political contribution to the socialist cause. History will now record that he did more harm to the socialist cause in Scotland than any good he ever did it. And that astonishing conclusion would not have been thought possible at the height of the poll tax struggle he led so well, or during his early period in the Scottish Socialist Party and Scottish Parliament.
The SSP reaffirms that our aim is to defend the interests of working people, the millions against the millionaires and to work for a socialist transformation of society in the interests of the majority. We can at last now draw a line under this awful episode and move on. In this time of savage attacks by the rich against the poor, Scotland more than ever needs a strong left wing socialist party that can be trusted.
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