Tommy Sheridan

Thomas Sheridan (born 7 March 1964) is a Scottish politician who served as convenor of Solidarity from 2019 to 2021.

With Joan McAlpine, he published A Time to Rage which chronicled the anti-poll tax movement of the late-1980s and early-1990s.

McAlpine has since written about the Sheridan she became close to, with reference in particular to the defamation case.

Sheridan became a member of the Militant group while a student at Stirling University in around 1983, after being active in a broad-based anti-Trotskyist group including Liberals and Communists as well as Labour Party members.

After graduation, he went to Cardonald College as a typing student as part of an (unsuccessful) effort on the part of Militant to recruit Scottish Labour Students in further education colleges.

Sheridan was active as a Militant entryist in the Labour Party until 1989 when Labour expelled him, and became a member of Scottish Militant Labour (SML), which eventually became the core of the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP).

The Labour Party, led by Neil Kinnock at the time, found that Militant contravened the Labour Party constitution, and Sheridan himself was expelled from the Labour Party in 1989 for "bringing the party into disrepute".

From within Militant, he was the public face of a mass non-payment campaign against the Community Charge in Scotland (where it was introduced a year earlier than other parts of the UK "as an experiment").

The campaign involving the refusal to pay the tax, together with resistance to warrant sales which local councils held to try to recoup the money, was ultimately successful and Sheridan became a popular political figure.

Sheridan denounced those who fought the police in the large-scale riot against the poll tax in London – which took place on 31 March 1990, the day before the tax was introduced in England and Wales – and publicly threatened to "name names".

The police widely advertised for people to tell them the names of alleged rioters, and partly as a result of police acting on such information, over 100 individuals were jailed.

As the highest profile Militant member in Scotland, Sheridan was a leading figure in the group's split in the early-1990s.

Emboldened by the success of the campaign against the poll tax, many Militant members – particularly in Scotland – argued for the abandonment of entryism and for the creation of Scottish Militant Labour and Militant Labour in England and Wales as separate political parties.

He was a prominent campaigner against the Poll tax (officially known as the Community Charge) in Scotland, and was jailed for six months for attending a warrant sale in 1991 after Glasgow Sheriff Court had served a court order on him banning his presence.

The argument was resolved when Sheridan and his supporters won a vote at a special conference held in Bridlington in October 1991, defeating the faction around Militant founder Ted Grant who argued against abandoning the Labour Party.

Sheridan fought two elections while in prison, coming second in the Pollok constituency at the 1992 general election, gaining nearly 20%, a result ahead of three candidates, but behind the elected Labour Party MP.

A few weeks later he won the Pollok ward on Glasgow District Council.

The result was a split in the Militant in what has become known as the 'Scottish Turn'; Scottish Militant Labour had gained six councillors in Glasgow by 1993, including Sheridan.

With a strong Scottish National Party (SNP), Scottish Militant Labour argued in favour of founding a new, left-wing political party.

He contested the European Parliament election in 1994 as the SML candidate in Glasgow, and came third with 8% of votes cast.

Discussions were held with other left-wing and Scottish republican groups and a new group was formed in 1996 known initially as the Scottish Socialist Alliance.

Sheridan was a leading figure in negotiations to establish the Scottish Socialist Alliance in 1996, which evolved into the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) in 1998.

He previously served as convenor of the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) from 1998 to 2004 and as co-convenor of Solidarity from 2006 to 2016.

In 1998, the new Scottish Socialist Party was formed from the SSA.

Differences over political strategy and priorities within the Committee for a Workers' International (CWI) soon surfaced, especially on the issue of Scottish independence, leading to a split within the CWI and Sheridan along with the majority of Scottish supporters left the organisation.

He was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Glasgow region from 1999 to 2007.

He was elected to the Scottish Parliament in 1999 as a Glasgow representative and re-elected in 2003 despite, in 2000 and 2002, being jailed over the non-payment of fines levied in connection with breach of the peace convictions resulting from his actions at demonstrations against the presence of the nuclear fleet at the Faslane Naval Base.

In 2006, in the case of Sheridan v News International, he won an action for defamation against the News of the World and was awarded £200,000 damages.

The following year, he was charged with perjury for having told lies to the court in his defamation case.

In the following weeks, six of his relations and colleagues were also charged.

He obtained a MSc in Social Research at the University of Strathclyde in 2008.

In October 2010, he appeared together with his wife Gail at a trial for perjury.

On 23 December 2010, Sheridan was convicted of perjury, and on 26 January he was sentenced to three years' imprisonment.

The charges against his wife were withdrawn.

In the light of the News of the World phone hacking affair, the Crown Office was ordered to reassess the case in 2011.

Sheridan left prison in January 2012 under automatic early release rules.

Sheridan's mother was Alice Sheridan, a political activist who stood as a candidate for political groups involving her son.

Sheridan, raised in Roman Catholic faith, attended St Monica's Primary (Pollok) and Lourdes Secondary before studying at the University of Stirling, where he received a degree in economics.

He studied law at Strathclyde Law School, on the two-year fast track degree, graduating in 2015.

He also played football at Junior level with Larkhall Thistle, Benburb, East Kilbride Thistle, Baillieston Juniors and St Anthony's.