ASENIOR Scottish Socialist Party official yesterday failed in his final attempt to keep a secret party minute about Tommy Sheridan out of the hands of a tabloid newspaper.

Alan McCombes, SSP policy co-ordinator, had argued that releasing the document would be a breach of his human rights and have a chilling effect on debate within political parties.

He claimed the minute was "irrelevant" to the News of the World's defence of a GBP200,000 defamation action brought by Mr Sheridan over allegations about his private life.

He said that, in its court pleadings, the newspaper had brought forward "more substantial" material than anything contained in the party's paperwork.

The minute records a meeting of the SSP's executive committee on November 9, 2004, at which Mr Sheridan was ousted as leader.

However, Lady Smith accepted the newspaper's argument that the minute was "directly relevant" to its defence, and the interests of justice meant it should not be excluded from evidence.

She said that Mr Sheridan's credibility would be "central" in the defamation trial, and it was not difficult to understand why the paper wanted the minute.

She said Mr McCombes had made a "clear and carefully presented argument", but failed to show "a convincing justification for refusing to allow the defence access to this material".

Speaking outside court, Mr McCombes said the defeat had probably added another GBP5000 to the GBP25,000 in expenses already awarded against him. He said it was wrong that it had cost him so much to defend the principle that a party is entitled to conduct its affairs in private.

He added: "The existing legal system operates in favour of the rich and powerful and against the poor and powerless.

You can only defend yourself if you can afford the colossal legal bill involved. We're having to meet the bill of a QC who came after our document. This is like punishing the victim for being mugged."

Mr McCombes was jailed for three days and fined GBP500 for contempt of court after initially refusing to surrender the minute. However, after party delegates voted to release it, the minute was given to the court on May 29.

During the hearing, Michael Jones, QC, for the newspaper, said he accepted parts of the minute would be confidential, but that was not a sufficient reason to exclude it from evidence - only a weighty public interest could justify that.

An independent commissioner will open the minute and make relevant excerpts, rather than the whole document, available to the News of the World. It will not be allowed to know who was at the meeting or who said what - apart from Mr Sheridan's contributions.