Conservative Home Editor: Scrapping equal marriage bill ‘would leave David Cameron looking weak’
The Catholic editor of influential Conservative website Conservative Home has said that, despite opposing equal marriage, he does not think that David Cameron should bow to pressure to scrap the bill to legalise it.
Paul Goodman, the executive editor of Conservative Home recommended that David Cameron should not bow to pressure to withdraw the pending Marriage (same-sex couples) Bill, saying that it would do him “no political good”, and would leave him “looking weak”.
The latest local election results show the Conservatives had lost control of nine councils – with UKIP making large gains, polling an average share of 25%. This success came in spite of a Tory Cabinet Minister dismissing UKIP as a “collection of clowns”.
Some had attributed Tory losses in the election to Cameron’s support for the bill.
Goodman wrote that he agreed with Cameron when he said that the row over equal marriage would be forgotten in two years time. He went on to say that he disagreed with the equal marriage bill, but said that he did not think the Prime Minister should withdraw it.
“I must be objective, and add that, in narrow political terms, withdrawing the bill would do Cameron no political good. The gesture would simply leave him looking weak.
“The Ministers and MPs who backed it only because he did would rage at marching loyally towards the sound of gunfire…only to find on looking round that their commanding officers had deserted the field,” he said.
The Guardian reported that Downing Street was attempting to woo disaffected Tory voters by omitting any refrence to the equal marriage bill in the Queen’s speech tomorrow, however, PinkNews revealed last Friday that the speech by the 87-year-old monarch was unlikely to mention the Coalition Government’s commitment to equal marriage, as it has already begun its journey through Parliament.