On 4 August 2011 Paul Murray had me on his show on Sky - it's a good summary of the radio interview I'd done with Thomson a few days earlier, where he lied through his teeth.

I've copped heaps, Kathy Jackson copped heaps, anyone who stated the obvious - that Thomson was lying - copped heaps.

Now, as he faces gaol, Thomson has fessed up - here's The Australian today:

Craig Thomson ‘lied about prostitutes to divert attention from scandal’

DISGRACED former Labor MP Craig Thomson lied about using union credit cards to pay for ­prostitutes because he felt “under attack”.

The explanation emerged ­yesterday as Victorian County Court judge Carolyn Douglas heard Thomson’s appeal against his ­conviction for 65 theft and ­dishonesty offences relating to his use of Health Services Union ­credit cards while he was national secretary.

A parliamentary privileges committee is inquiring into ­whe­ther Thomson deliberately misled parliament during a statement in May 2012. The Leader of the House, Christopher Pyne, told The Australian: “I’d be surprised if the ­admission by Mr Thomson’s lawyers today wasn’t of great interest to the committee.”

Greg James QC told the court yesterday that Thomson was “not merely a member of staff” and was more like a chief executive.

Thomson had publicly lied when the allegations emerged in a bid to “divert” attention from the scandal. “He was under attack as allegedly misusing the money by spending it on prostitutes,” Mr James said. “To rebut that, he lies. He was under direct attack for moral turpitude ... he was lying to divert the inquiry from him in ­respect of that moral turpitude.”

Judge Douglas replied that she recalled the interview Thomson gave to journalist Laurie Oakes in which he denied using escorts and said factional enemies with access to his credit cards had threatened to set him up.

Thomson has opted not to fight the evidence of his credit card use in court, agreeing to a statement of undisputed facts that Judge Douglas will rely on to decide whether the charges are proven.

Thomson has repeatedly maintained his innocence, describing the ­undisputed facts as a tactic to save on legal costs.

Mr James said Thomson was entitled to spend cash withdrawn using his union credit card, and theft charges were inappropriate as the money had always belonged to the bank, not the HSU. “It’s neither here nor there that the money came from members originally.”

The prosecution says that it is ­“utterly implausible” Thomson had authority to use the credit cards on personal expenses.

Judge Douglas will deliver her decision on December 15. She may uphold the existing one-year jail sentence, with nine months suspended, or impose a new sentence.

Thomson wrote this bulltish email to his parliamentary colleagues on 8 June 2011:

From: Thomson, Craig (MP)
Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2011 12:39 PM
To: Thomson, Craig (MP)
Subject: Fairfax v Thomson

Dear Colleagues

I am writing to you as you may have seen reports in the Fairfax press regarding my defamation action. The article was totally inaccurate and wrong. The facts are as follows:

1. I took defamation action against the Health Services Union and separate action against Fairfax;

2. The HSU settled on a confidential basis with me some six months ago. Whilst it was a confidential settlement it was one that I was very happy with and as a consequence withdrew my legal action;

3. Over a month ago I reached a confidential agreement with Fairfax. This was reported in the press and the agreement filed in court as a settlement of my matters and again the legal matters where withdrawn. As with the HSU settlement I was very happy with the outcome.

4. An AEC investigation cleared me of the allegations raised by Fairfax regarding electoral spending

5. I have always strenuously denied the allegations made against me and I continue to do so.

It is clear that Fairfax have both defamed me again and breached and misrepresented a confidential deed that settled the matter between me and Fairfax. I have now been referred this matter again to my lawyers.

I thank you for your continued support in this matter and hope this corrects the grossly inaccurate and misleading reporting in the Fairfax media.

Yours faithfully

Craig Thomson

Graham Richardson and Sam Dastyari must have known that email was complete and utter crap, they organised the deal whereby the Labor Party paid his legal bills.

THE NSW Labor Party paid almost $350,000 in legal costs for Craig Thomson before the troubled MP was suspended from the party in May.

More than two-thirds of the amount - $240,000 - was paid to Fairfax Media, the publisher of the Herald, under a settlement reached a year ago when Mr Thomson withdrew defamation action he instituted in 2009.

Another $108,366.87 was to cover Mr Thomson's other legal expenses and some of Labor's own bills related to the case, taking the total the ALP paid to $348,366.87.

The ALP will divulge the figure at its annual state conference next month after internal pressure from the NSW senator John Faulkner, who argued that members had a right to know.

Here are a few links to the early days of the Thomson story.

http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/08/the-craig-thomson-enquiry-the-interview-on-2ue-dated-1-august-2011.html

http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/08/the-craig-thomson-interview-of-1-august-2011-part-two.html

http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/08/the-craig-thomson-enquiry-1-august-to-8-august-2012.html

http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/08/the-craig-thomson-enquiry-middle-two-weeks-of-august-2011.html