'Tommy Sheridan: from hero to zero? A political biography'
“The main conclusion drawn is that Tommy carefully constructed and played the public persona of ‘Tommy Sheridan’”.
Just before he is due to be released from prison for committing perjury, the definitive biography of Tommy Sheridan has been published (26 January).
Entitled ‘Tommy Sheridan: from hero to zero? A political biography’, it not only charts his spectacular rise and fall in Scottish and socialist politics but also explains why, throughout his career, he was attracted to risk like a moth to a flame.
“The Tommy Sheridan persona comprised a combination of ‘man of the people’ and ‘socialist tribune’, underscored with boldness, confidence, integrity, charm and the common touch. Part of the persona was based on normalising himself with supporters and voters by consciously divulging matters in his private life concerning his family and his pastimes,” says author, Gregor Gall.
“He very much played up one side of his character in public. And, this gave him vital self-affirmation. It was this ‘going in character’ that allowed Tommy to give enormous credibility and respectability to his political brand of socialism”, Gall commented.
"This is not to suggest he was a fake or a fraud for the character he played was too organic and intimate to him. However, it also proved to be his Achilles' heel for when allegations emerged about his sexual proclivities that ran counter to this cultivated image, Tommy felt he had no option but to defend his public persona by all means necessary. This involved perjury - as has since been proven."
The biography considers Tommy’s place in history by suggesting that while many now believe him to be a ‘zero’, he will be remembered as both ‘hero’ and ‘zero’ because the latter cannot stand on its own – to recall the ‘bad’ is necessarily to also recall the ‘good’.
The biography shows Tommy Sheridan always played for political high stakes but only on the basis of strategic calculation, and not arrogance, ego or delusion. He played and won in 2006 with News of the World. He played and lost in 2010 against the criminal justice system. The biography explains why he became this risk taker, why he succeeded for so long but why, ultimately, he over-reached himself.
‘Tommy Sheridan: from hero to zero? A political biography’ is published by Welsh Academic Press, ppxv+360, ISBN 978-1-86057-119-0.