Lord Tebbit accuses Maria Miller of ‘arrogance’ and calls for her to step down
Anti-same-sex marriage Tory peer Lord Tebbit has joined in calls to have equalities minister Maria Miller step down.
The former Conservative cabinet minister and ex-Tory chairman Lord Tebbit on Sunday joined the Conservative Grassroots organisation in calls for Minister for Women and Equalities and Culture Secretary Maria Miller step down.
Lord Tebbit accused Mrs Miller of “arrogance”.
The Minister for Women and Equalities was responsible for steering the government’s same-sex marriage legislation through the Commons.
Lord Tebbit was one of the staunchest opponents against the government’s decision to legalise equal marriage during the debates in the House of Lords last year.
Conservative MP and former party leader Iain Duncan Smith at the weekend came to the defence of Maria Miller over recent expenses inquiries, saying she is facing a possible Tory backlash for “the gay marriage stuff.”
He said: ”And also the gay marriage stuff – there’s a lot of Conservatives out there who perhaps weren’t necessarily supportive, also feel rather bitter about that. In a sense, she is also receiving some of that as part of this process.
“My view generally is that I’m supportive of Maria, because if we are not careful we end up with a witch hunt of somebody.”
A change.org petition has been started which calls for Mrs Miller to “pay back £45,000 in fraudulent expense claims or resign.” At time of publication, around 80,000 people had signed it.