Friday 10 June 2011

Downfall: The Tommy Sheridan Story

From prison cell to the political limelight, and back again. Tommy Sheridan – tanned, handsome and armed with a sound bite for every occasion – was one of the most colourful figures in the drab, dusty world of party politics. Yet behind the charismatic exterior of the man who first came to public notice during the anti-Poll Tax movement and later led the Scottish Socialist Party in the new Scottish Parliament was a deeply flawed man whose own actions led to one of the most staggering and sensational political downfalls in recent history.

Downfall
by Alan McCombes
Alan McCombes was, for over twenty years, one of Sheridan’s closest political associates. Now, based on a raft of documentary and eyewitness information, he has written Downfall: The Tommy Sheridan Story -  the no holds barred inside story of the rise and fall of one of the most fascinating figures in recent Scottish politics. It is a story of deceit, corruption and self-destruction combining elements of tragedy, thriller and farce, and presents the stark, ugly truth behind Sheridan's victorious defamation action against the News of the World in 2006 and subsequent perjury trial in 2010.

There is no shelter for those who have, in some way, been complicit in one of the most shameful legal and political scandals ever to break. Read an interview here with Alan in The Scotsman about why he wrote the book.

Downfall: The Tommy Sheridan Story is available now, £9.99 pbk or as an eBook.