Gay marriage - 'a policy dreamt up in Notting Hill'

This coming week will see a culmination in the quest to introduce gay/equal marriage: on Tuesday, the House of Commons will make its voice known in the first vote on the matter, and the process to redefine marriage will have begun. Even Tony Blair never went as far as riding roughshod over history, traducing culture and ignoring biology. For New Labour, Civil Partnership was deemed sufficient to establish legal parity for homosexuals and lesbians, and amendment to that Act on matters of taxation and pension rights is deemed insufficient by David Cameron to strengthen the equality.

Gay marriage is the Prime Minister's personal mission - pursued, he insists, because he's a Conservative - despite it 'ripping apart' his party and causing more heartache and angst than any matter since reform of the Corn Laws. It may be a form of justice, but it is appalling politics. Even 'banging on about Europe' has taken a back seat to gay marriage. And it is distinctly possible that the Bill will pass its first Commons hurdle with a majority of the Conservative Parliamentary Party having voted against it. It is sure to attract overwhelmimg Labour and LibDem support, but Cameron's discomfort at the thought of only a minority of Tory MPs voting for his policy is sure to fester like an unlanced boil for many months to come, risking a permanent scar deeper even than any ever inflicted by 'Europe'.

Local Conservative associations are bleeding members by the thousand...[read more]