This week David Cameron wrote a gushy article for the Independent on how proud he was to have introduced same sex marriage.
I was prime minister, driving forward a bill that would allow gay people to get married. The opposition was fierce, from the Church, sections of the press, a number of party members (one even tore up their membership card in front of me), and from some of the MPs I was hoping would help to turn the bill into law.
People assume now that equal marriage was inevitable, that the bill sailed through Parliament without difficulty. It’s true that the majorities in favour were ultimately large ones (the House of Commons voted in favour by 400 to 175!). But the antipathy from so many quarters really did make me think on several occasions that we would have to drop it.
Talk about fairweather friend! He actually admitted that he thought he would have to put a stop to the measure.
His self-congratulatory re-writing of history concludes:
It is one of the achievements of which I am proudest (I usually make a joke about my “gay pride”). As with many things, it was tough, but it was worth the fight.
This would have been fine if it had been his fight. This was a Liberal Democrat idea and it was our Lynne Featherstone who made it happen. She did the hard yards before she was moved from the Home Office. She even wrote a book about it, which LGBT+Lib Dems cheekily reminded Cameron:
Hey @David_Cameron! DM us your address mate, we've got a book you should read… it's called Equal Ever After, it's a great page-turner and details the fight for same-sex marriage and how @lfeatherstone made it happen.
Perhaps you could read it and thank her finally…💁🏻♀️ https://t.co/1mZlhDEwtg pic.twitter.com/shQkCowTIo
— LGBT+ Lib Dems 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ 🔶 (@LGBTLD) June 23, 2023
On Twitter, Lynne Featherstone herself thanked Cameron for supporting it. There’s a but, though.
Of course – brilliant he supported it. But he never can bring himself to publicly acknowledge that it didn’t come from him. Of course the PM needs to be on side – and I always thanked him for that. He clings to it like a life raft after the destruction he delivered to our country
If you haven’t read Lynne’s book, it is absolutely excellent and you can buy it here.
As Lynne says, Cameron has to be given credit for supporting same sex marriage, but he in turn needs to give credit to the people who actually did the work.
Next month, it’s the 10th anniversary of the Bill securing passage in the Lords. I was in London for one of the debates and the rallies outside in support were so joyful. Those were much happier times.
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
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One Comment
It was in no way his initiative or his political capital being burned but I suppose he can be more proud of his supporting role – for that is what it was – in the drama than Boris can be of those forty hospitals he built.
His reflection that, “it was only through long conversations with colleagues, friends and my wife Samantha that I became convinced that denying gay couples the ability to get married made them feel like their love for one another counted for less than straight couples’.” does beggar belief though.
How utterly devoid of emotional intelligence you would have to be for that to be something that takes long conversations over time to be able to imagine?
Little wonder he left the country in a terrible mess.