Three months ago opinion polls suggested the British Conservative party was set to sweep into power in the forthcoming May 6 elections with a commanding majority.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown was apparently losing popularity with large sectors of the populace and the consequences of last year’s global financial crisis were still being felt throughout the UK.
But if a week is a long time in politics, then three months is an eternity.
Enough time for the tide to turn in favour of the resurgent Labour Party, with the Liberal Democrats (reportedly the most popular party with gay and lesbian voters, by a narrow one percent) set to determine which of the two major parties will form government.
While the economy will comprise the major battlefield, one aspect of the campaign that has unsettled the Labour party is the extent to which the Conservative Party has sought to take ground by moving to the centre on many of the social issues that previously defined the rivalry.
While New Labour seeks to define itself as the reliable party in terms of the economy, the Conservative Party has sought to rid itself of its image as the ‘nasty’ party.
Aside a decidedly green and multiracial campaign platform, the Conservatives have also been making extensive overtures to Britain’s gay and lesbian communities, at latest count fielding no fewer than 20 gay and lesbian candidates.
In a speech delivered to the conservative Cato Institute in Washington, Shadow Secretary of State for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs, Nick Herbert asked ‘Is There a Place for Gay People in Conservatism and Conservative Politics?’.
‘I – an openly gay man – was selected before the last election by my local party, voted for by grassroots conservatives, and I’ve been promoted on merit,’ said Herbert in the speech.
‘I’m one of two Conservative MPs who have taken out a civil partnership – thanks to legislation which – to their credit – the current Labour Government introduced, but which the Conservative Party supported.
‘I led our Party’s support for a new law to prevent the incitement of hatred against gay people – subject to our concern that temperate comment should not be criminalised.
‘There’s an election coming, and it suits our opponents to argue we haven’t changed. But we self-evidently have changed.
‘Gay people are not the property of the Left, or of any party. They are not an interest group or a political commodity to be traded. They are not vessels for votes.
More recently, Herbert was quoted as saying, ‘A successful political party ought to look like the country it seeks to govern. If we were truly representative, we would have 99 women, 16 black or ethnic minority, and 10 gay MPs.’
Iain Stewart, openly gay candidate for the seat of Milton Keynes South, was equally emphatic.
‘Since the beginning of his leadership, David Cameron has made clear the Conservative Party’s commitment to sexual equality and gay rights,’ he told OUTinPerth.
‘We have supported tackling homophobic bullying and measures to tackle incitement to gay hatred, and we have opened up Conservative candidate selection to people from all backgrounds.
‘Whether it’s our strong commitment to supporting marriage and civil partnerships, or our proposals for flexible parental leave which will benefit parents regardless of their sexuality, the modern Conservative Party is committed to equality.’
The Conservatives have suffered the occasional setback in courting the gay vote, including Cameron stumbling several times while being video-interviewed by UK magazine Gay Times.
He frequently struggled to stay ‘on message’ and at one point asking for the cameras to be switched off while he gathered his thoughts.
The party also landed in trouble when the Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Grayling, said that bed and breakfast owners should have the right to turn away gay and lesbian couples.
Despite continuing to vote in support of it until 2003, Cameron recently offered a public apology for Section 28, the Tory legislation introduced in the 1980s that sought to prohibit the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality in schools.
Cameron also predicted at a recent gay event that a Conservative would become Britain’s first openly gay prime minister.
The Conservative party currently has three openly gay members of Parliament, the Labour party five, and the Social Democrats one.
Steven Carter
