[Marxism] British SWP on sacking of Tommy Sheridan

[Einde O'Callaghan <einde@xxxxxx>]

Why did they dump Tommy?

Chris Bambery

TORY LEADER Michael Howard was made to look a fool recently after
sacking Boris Johnson for having an affair.

The private life of a politician carries few surprises for most people,
and doesn’t rate on the same level as telling multiple lies to justify war.

The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) executive has made an even worse
blunder than Howard’s. It has voted to remove its best known and greatly
respected figure Tommy Sheridan as party convenor after allegations
about his private life.

The obvious response would have been to say that Tommy has never stuck
his nose into other people’s personal lives or lectured them on
morality—unlike David Blunkett—so why should he be judged by the News of
the World?

The story would have quickly died a death, and it cut little ice with
tens of thousands of SSP voters.

But the SSP leadership panicked, and urged Tommy’s resignation. That
panic derives from seeing things too much in terms of media perceptions
rather than how grassroots party supporters view things.

Rest at: http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php4?article_id=4610


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