By Euan McColm
CHEATING Tommy Sheridan can now be exposed once and for all as a LIAR, an ADULTERER and a HYPOCRITE.
The ex-Scottish Socialist Party leader condemns himself in his OWN words in an explosive 40-minute video tape.
The recording was made in secret by George McNeilage, best man at the left-wing firebrand's wedding to wife Gail, 42.
And it proves beyond any doubt that the MSP committed PERJURY during his libel case against the News of the World AND pulled the wool over the jury's eyes to win his record £200,000 payout.
Now you can read:
# the full transcript of the tape
# the lies that damn him
# and the reason George McNeilage is mad with his former friend.
NOW HEAR HIM CONFESS ALL - CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO SHOCK TAPE
On the tape, the 42-year-old perma-tanned politician admits that he:
# VISITED Cupids swingers' club on at least two occasions
# DID go to the seedy Manchester sex den with News of the World columnist Anvar Khan, and
# CONFESSED to a meeting of the SSP executive on November 9, 2004 that he had been there.
During the sensational five-week trial at Edinburgh's Court Of Session — which ended in August with Sheridan being awarded £200,000 in damages — he insisted that he had NEVER visited Cupids.
He also told the court he had NEVER been there for sex sessions with Anvar.
He maintained that he had NEVER slept with her since they dated in 1992.
Sleazy
And he told the jury that he had NEVER confessed to that crunch SSP summit that he had attended the swingers' club.
The bombshell tape is the most explosive piece of evidence in the history of Scottish defamation trials.
It could send Sheridan to jail for perjury — and it is crucial in the police investigation into four of Sheridan's colleagues in the SSP who swore blind to judge and jury that he had never confessed his sleazy secrets to the executive meeting.
If they are found guilty, then party MSP Rosemary Byrne and SSP officials Graeme McIver, Pat Smith and Jock Penman could all be facing a jail sentence in high-profile cases that would cut a huge swathe through Scottish politics.
In his conversation with McNeilage, the TRUTH comes out and contradicts what Sheridan would say as he conducted his own defence in the Court of Session just two months ago.
One of the pivotal points of the trial came when he denied he had been confronted by the SSP's policy chief Alan McCombes about being a swinger: "No, it's not accurate. It's nonsense," he maintained.
But on tape he admits he told McCombes: "Look, stupid, shouldnae have done it. Done it once before in '96 and went back in 2002. And cheap thrill but it's been done and that's it."
Emergency
McNeilage recorded his conversation with Sheridan on a camcorder hidden beneath some tiles while he was decorating the front room of his home in the Pollok area of Glasgow.
He didn't release it at the time because he was certain his old friend would lose his court case and the evidence wouldn't be needed.
Sheridan, a member of the Scottish Parliament who describes fellow MSPs and party colleagues as c***s during the talk, visited McNeilage days after an emergency meeting of the SSP forced him to quit as the party's convener as the row about his private life erupted.
The trial, which began in July, was still some time away. But the issues raised in court are already on his mind.
On the tape, Sheridan is seen walking in front of the camera before sitting down. He can then be heard clearly talking to McNeilage.
His damning words can be read in the transcript. But amongst the most serious threats to his marriage and his future freedom is the cynical way he uses columnist Anvar Khan.
Sheridan tells how SSP policy chief Alan McCombes called him in October 2004 as soon as McCombes had seen the revelations from Anvar's book Pretty Wild printed in our paper.
In our story, which did not identify the politician, Anvar, 39, admitted having an affair with an unmarried MSP and visiting a swingers' club with him. In the book, her lover's identity is hidden behind false details — and when it was suggested in court that Sheridan was that man, he said with bravado: "That's a downright lie."
Public
Yet on the tape, Sheridan explains: "Alan (McCombes) comes on the phone saying, ‘Is this you?' I said, ‘Of course it is'."
Sheridan then carefully calculates that a public ‘confession' that he had slept with Khan BEFORE starting his relationship with wife Gail would help him to cover up allegations that the relationship carried on AFTER the marriage.
He says on the video: "There's been a few sessions...which is in certain respects my saving grace because if there's any story about what she knows about my personal habits or if she knows about I've got a hairy back or a hairy a**e, of course she does because she f***ing sha**ed me and I've admitted that.
"That's out in the open. That's a matter of public record."
The admission will stun Sheridan's wife. Gail was a potent force in the courtroom and drew smiles from the jury when Sheridan asked her if she would have given evidence if she believed the accusations against him.
Gail replied: "There's no way I'd be here. Neither would you.
"You'd be in the Clyde with a piece of concrete tied round you and I'd be in court for your murder."
Millions of TV viewers will remember her by his side as he strode out of court, punching the air and crowing to his army of supporters.
In court, Sheridan also denied having a series of steamy romps with former escort girl Fiona McGuire, and insisted that he had NOT been unfaithful to ex-air hostess Gail with party activist Katrine Trolle.
And central to the case was, of course, his denial that he had ever admitted visiting Cupids to his party's executive committee.
Deceit
Indeed, 11 members of the party who were there that night — and testified in court that he had confessed — were made to sound like liars as Sheridan conducted a bravura performance of deceit.
But explaining to McNeilage how he was called to the meeting, Sheridan says unguardedly: "I then make the biggest mistake of my life by confessing something in front of 19 f***ers...what am I doing confessing in front of these c***s?"
The MSP also told McNeilage that he was angry about former pal Keith Baldassara's refusal to contact him as details of his sordid private life began to emerge. He said: "I love Keith to bits and he's not phoned me once."
McNeilage responded: "I think he's p****d off, Tam. Do you know how? I think he's p****d off because everything's now all surfacing, everything's now all surfacing that we f*****g warned you about f*****g years ago, right?" Sheridan answers: "Fine fine."
Last night McNeilage told us: "I recorded the tape as Tommy was already starting to spin the truth about what really happened at the SSP meeting on November 9, 2004.
"I grew up with Tommy, went on picket lines with him, was arrested with him at demos. But he's ended up betraying everyone."
He added: "People need to know the truth about Tommy."
When we confronted Sheridan at his Glasgow home last night, he raged: "You're liars and everyone knows you're liars."
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