Sex claims politician dismisses legal team

The politician and his wife Gail, both 46, are on trial at the High Court in Glasgow accused of perjury.

Sheridan's legal team was led by QC Maggie Scott and included two junior counsel.

The trial has now been adjourned until Thursday to allow him to prepare his case.

Judge Lord Bracadale told the jurors there had been "some developments" in the case.

He said: "Mr Sheridan will now conduct his own defence. An accused person is entitled to do that."

The couple, from Glasgow, are accused of lying under oath during Sheridan's successful 2006 defamation action against the News of the World. They deny the allegations against them.

Sheridan, a former contestant on Celebrity Big Brother, won 200,000 in damages after the newspaper printed allegations about his private life.

Miss Scott is one of Scotland's best known QCs and defended Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Al Megrahi.

The trial got under way on Monday last week and has already heard from several witnesses.

The politician had asked for some time to prepare himself for the case and the judge said this was a "reasonable" request.

He agreed to adjourn the case until Thursday, when the court will only sit in the morning.

No evidence was heard in the case yesterday.

Evidence was heard throughout last week from former Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) members. Several witnesses told the jury that Sheridan had admitted during an executive committee meeting of the SSP in 2004 to visiting a swingers' club.

Former SSP leader Colin Fox also told jurors that Sheridan had asked him to lie about minutes of the meeting where Sheridan allegedly admitted visiting the club.