Tommy Sheridan: From Hero to Zero?: A Political Biography Hardcover – 30 Nov 2011

This `political biography' of Tommy Sheridan sets out to offer an objective study of the rise and fall of one of Scotland's best-known politicians of modern times. Since his self-inflicted downfall at his perjury trial in 2010, resulting in conviction and imprisonment, Tommy is now well-known for all the wrong reasons; and Gregor Gall gives us plenty of facts and useful insights into these events, many of which are the result of thorough and detailed research - as befits a writer who, as he likes to remind us on a number of occasions, is himself an `academic'.

Well, he may be an academic but his writing isn't up to much. The book is poorly edited and proof-read by the Welsh Academic Press, with plenty of typos which presumably were the publisher's fault. But, worse still, the author's grammar is poor. Try these, just for a small handful of examples: "they did not leave their van for fearing of precipitating a riot"; or "the police said although nobody was going to be killed, they could not guarantee that no one would not get injured"; or "this biography comes as close as it possible in terms of source material to being a definitive and authoritative biography as possible". Punctuation is rotten as well, by the way, with many persistent misconceptions about where to use commas and brackets which a good schoolteacher could easily have cleared up.

The style is not much better; it's heavy, largely dull, and pompous in places, with many rather tedious sections and little sense of excitement. The writing is patchy, with some chapters quite carefully done but others showing signs of undue haste. Some of the content is hard going as well; many passages could only possibly be of interest to readers who are, or wish to be, familiar with the ins and outs of the various groupings and factions of left-wing politics in Scotland. What should have been the climax of the story, the perjury trial of 2010, is commented on rather than narrated, and most of the courtroom events which at the time were seen and felt as high drama by the many who followed the case blow by blow, so to speak, remain untold here.

This is a shame, because the author has evidently researched the facts very thoroughly, including following matters closely over the long term and interviewing many of the key participants in the story. He also offers us a reasonably balanced and objective view of events, and shows good judgement in his reflections. Tommy is clearly seen to have brought about his own downfall, belying and betraying the admirable principles of his earlier political campaigns - and all because of an overblown ego, an over-indulged swinger's lifestyle and his unscrupulous, amoral treatment of anyone whom he saw as likely to thwart him. Sadly, this included many former political colleagues, and you have to feel sorry for his friends and comrades in the Scottish Socialist Party who tried so hard to give him much-needed advice. But it was advice he neither heeded nor wanted, and in the end their party and movement suffered disastrous setbacks because of the onset and outcome of the famous perjury trial.

Those readers who want to study Tommy Sheridan, his background and his story in detail may well find this book useful. As I've said, it is well researched but not well written, and so it's not a `good read' compared to Downfall: The Tommy Sheridan Story by Alan McCombes. The latter, in addition to the advantage of his crucial personal involvement, writes well and can tell a good story in a manner that is both entertaining and moving - for, let's face it, the tale of this fallen working-class hero makes a cracking good story as well as a shameful one. As for the present book, it would be a better prospect if it were reprinted in paperback form at a decent price - but only after being carefully revised and edited by someone who knows what they're doing.