Same-sex marriage bid spark Tory party rebellion
Conservative party chairmen led by a Somerset Tory descended on Downing Street yesterday to hand over a letter calling for a halt to proposals to allow same-sex marriage.
The issue, which goes before a free vote of MPs this week, is threatening to divide the Conservative Party with grassroots members in the rural West at the forefront of a mini rebellion.
More than 180 Tory MPs are understood to be voting against the Government’s proposal to allow gay and lesbian couples to get married, while at the same time giving churches the right to refuse to marry them in a religious ceremony.
A new website, called Conservative Grassroots, has just been set up, and it carried the full text of the letter signed by more than 20 past and present chairmen of constituency parties, calling for David Cameron to re-think the issue.
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One of those signatories who made the trip to Westminster yesterday was Ed Costelloe, who resigned last month as chairman of the Somerton & Frome Conservative Association in protest at the gay marriage proposals. He said: “Many of us feel a huge sense of personal betrayal over these plans. We worked hard locally to convince people to support Conservatives but this was not part of the platform. There was no mention of this in the Manifesto.
“We don’t know where this has come from or why it has become such a priority given so many other pressing issues. We are also shocked by the way in which it is being pushed through with so little regard for proper scrutiny. The Government seems intent on restricting debate at every stage both in the public consultation and now in the Parliamentary process.
“There is huge public concern at the local level and we are seeing people leave the Party. It is certainly not a vote winner,” he added.
The letter said many feared problems ahead for churches and ministers who may find themselves open to equality prosecutions if they refuse to marry a same-sex couple, even though the Prime Minister said the safeguards written into the law were ‘copper-bottomed’.
“Long-held religious and personal freedoms and the right to free speech will be adversely affected by the passing of this Bill,” the Tory chairmen’s letter said. “You will be aware of the recent judgment by the European Court of Human Rights that failed to secure ‘religious freedom’ protection to an Islington civil registrar who lost her job after seeking a conscientious exemption from presiding over civil partnership ceremonies for homosexual couples, and a marriage counsellor who was dismissed after expressing a possible conscientious objection to providing same-sex sexual therapy.
“Because of these past precedents and the power of the ECHR to overrule British courts on matters relating to religious freedom and human rights, we do not feel the proposed ‘quadruple lock’ in the Bill will protect the perceived rights of one minority will not simply be used to overrule the rights of the majority and impinge on values considered sacrosanct to our Party and country,” they added.
With a free vote and no party whip, many ministers are understood to be voting against the legislation and even half the Conservative whips office itself. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt defended the plan, amid fears the issue is dividing the Tory party.
“Religious freedom is not just for heterosexuals – we should not deny anyone the right to make a lifelong commitment to another person in front of God if that is what they believe and that is what their church allows.”
Culture minister Ed Vaizey insisted the vote would not tear the Tory party apart, and claimed divisions over the issue were “good-natured”.
“We’ll see what happens in the vote on Tuesday, various numbers have been bandied about but what I would say is that it is good-natured division,” he told Murnaghan on Sky News. “Is this going to tear the Tory party apart? No, I don’t think it will. It is a civilised debate.”
Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell protested outside Downing Street as the letter was handed in, waving a placard reading “End ban on same-sex marriage. Marriage equality!”
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by stevearm
Friday, February 08 2013, 12:45PM
“MasterEpic, 'a small minority'? Similar to rights for black people I suppose, they're only a small minority, put them at bottom of the priority list? Don't be ridiculous. It took up all of one evening, hardly a huge inconvenience. You must be one of these deluded people that thinks 1 in every 100 is gay. Hint: it's closer to 1 in 10.”
by Viscount_V
Thursday, February 07 2013, 12:09AM
“Malcolm- "1. Unemployment is falling.
2. The recession is not likely to get worse.
3. The NHS is having more money spent on it than the previous Government promised.
4. Elderly people are not starving to death.
5. Industry is recovering from the depths it previously plumbed.
It is only the Labour Party that is trying to convince people otherwise and talk down the economy in order to gain petty political advantage."
Mwahahaha! And we would've got away with it if it weren't for your pesky innacuracies and the fact we don't need to do a single thing to win the next election while our country goes down the pan as a direct result of coalition policies...But we'll darn well try to save what little you've left us. Phew!
"Labour gets biggest ever lead with YouGov" http://tinyurl.com/bbnzc5r Could it be a "protest" survey taken by all the Tory homophobes?
I'll keep the red flag flying here Malcolm, thanks all the same ;)”
by lamail
Wednesday, February 06 2013, 10:29PM
“At least you still have to be the same species”
by lamail
Wednesday, February 06 2013, 10:22PM
“At least you still have to be the same species”
by MoeXXX
Wednesday, February 06 2013, 8:49PM
“Ever the optimist Malcolm, but this is clearly some strange use of the word "truth" that I wasn't previously aware of. Here on planet Earth:
1. Unemployment may be heading in the right direction, but still a major problem.
2. Debt has increased from 55.3% of GDP to 70.7% under the coalition. It *is* getting worse. In fact Cameron was hauled up by the statistics watchdog for claiming otherwise:
http://tinyurl.com/b5t9jyy
3. This is a lie. You will note that even the Tory party aren't trying to claim this any more (pesky statistics watchdog again):
http://tinyurl.com/ava5vyr
4. Don't know about this; evidence is anecdotal. Hopefully the soup kitchens are stepping in.
5. Industry output at its lowest level for 20 years, hence warnings of triple dip recession:
http://tinyurl.com/d3xqkeh”
by mcupis
Wednesday, February 06 2013, 10:09AM
“Masterepic, in truth:
1. Unemployment is falling.
2. The recession is not likely to get worse.
3. The NHS is having more money spent on it than the previous Government promised.
4. Elderly people are not starving to death.
5. Industry is recovering from the depths it previously plumbed.
It is only the Labour Party that is trying to convince people otherwise and talk down the economy in order to gain petty political advantage.”
by mcupis
Wednesday, February 06 2013, 10:04AM
“I see that, nationally, 59 per cent of people say they were in favour of this according to polls. John Redwood wrote a very interesting blog yesterday in which he said he was minded to support the vote, but that he had received a large amount of mail from constituents, the vast majority of which were against. So he voted against in line with the wishes expressed by his constituents. Whilst this is not in line with my own view, I think this shows John Redwood to be a very good MP indeed. If only this view was taken by more MPs, more regularly.”
by MoeXXX
Tuesday, February 05 2013, 9:57PM
“Results in:
http://tinyurl.com/a7gs5tc
Rees-Mogg voted against, of course.”
by MoeXXX
Tuesday, February 05 2013, 9:20PM
“@MasterEpic, yes it's fairly clear this little foray into progressive politics was designed to detract from all the more serious, regressive and destructive nonsense going on at the moment.
Unfortunately it seems the majority of Tories voted against, so I think it may have backfired.”
by MasterEpic
Tuesday, February 05 2013, 3:22PM
“We are in a massive recession that is likely to get worse, unemployment is high and getting higher, the NHS is suffering, people are struggling to feed, house and keep their children and families warm, elderly people are starving to death and dying of hypothermia in their own homes and in hospitals, Industry is on it's way down the pan and the most important thing in the country for the government to consider is whether we should change the meaning of the concept of marriage to please a small minority group in society to attempt to seem more modern. Whether you care about gays or not, surely there are more important things for the government to consider, this is just a decoy to entertain the masses to keep their minds off the cost of living, ever increasing fuel and water costs. Lets sort the life saving basics out before we worry about the little niceties, I surprised anyone can consider affording a marriage at all, gay or straight.”