Tories Attack Gay Vote (part 567)

You have to hand it to the Tories. They are trying bless 'em. The Guardian headline this morning is 'Tories to send gay MP to curb EU extremists'. Clearly, the Tories are targeting those floaty liberal orientated voters who have drifted to the Lib Dems in the last week - persuaded by a mixture of the Grayling outburst and the assured performance of Nick Clegg last week. It's a slightly odd story which seems to suggest that by packing off a gay Conservative to speak to some homophobic Polish MEP's he will dramatically transform opinion. Sounds like Nick Herbert has some amazing technique but maybe Cameron could deploy it among his own prospective parliamentary candidates.

The Independent has the story of an written letter from shadow Tory minister Julian Lewis who seems stuck in the equality battles of the last decade, to a constituent last week. The age of consent, as many of you know, was equalised in 2000 by the Labour government - largely a consequence of the Human Rights Act. Julian Lewis has chosen the general election of 2010 to express his opposition to this measure. Curious decision. Lewis argues there should be a different age of consent because of the risk of HIV. He wrote:

"There is a seriously increased risk of HIV infection from male homosexual activity. When it comes to legalising practices that involve serious risk, I believe the higher limit should apply. This is the reason we no longer allow 16- and 17-year-olds into front line situations in the armed forces, for example."

He goes on to back Civil Partnerships so that's alright then. Maybe Cameron should be dispatching Nick Herbert a little closer to home.

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