4 February 2010

David Cameron has been criticised by LGBT Labour for "forgetting" his past voting record on gay rights when challenged by Johann Hari in an interview for gay magazine Attitude.

In the interview, to be published next week, Hari challenges Cameron over a 2002 vote where the Tory leader voted against allowing gay couples to adopt. In response, Cameron tried to deny voting against gay adoption, saying “No... we were three-line-whipped on that vote and I abstained on it.”.

But despite Cameron's claim, the truth is that he did voted against gay adoption, favouring adoption for specifically 'married' couples (Division 244, 16/05/02).

This is not the first time he has had trouble recalling the past accurately. In 2005, Cameron seemed to misremember his voting record when interviewed by Adam Boulton on Sky News:

David Cameron: I abstained on a three line whip which was …
Adam Boulton: You voted against it twice.
David Cameron: I abstained on the three line whip, Adam. I haven’t been through Hansard.
(Sky News, 24/11/05)

In the interview, Cameron also came unstuck trying to defend his alliance in Europe with far-right parties. He claimed “I'm not allied with parties that have views on homophobia or racism that I think are unacceptable.”

This is despite the leader of his alliance, Polish MEP Michal Kaminski, having called gay people “faggots”, and senior MPs of the party demanding a crackdown on "positive paedophilia by some homosexual circles."

The interviewer, Johann Hari, concluded that “on perhaps the two biggest issues affecting gay people in Britain - violence in the playground, and violence on the streets – [Cameron] doesn't have much to say”.

LGBT Labour co-chair Katie Hanson said:

“Once again, Cameron’s warm words on gay and lesbian equality have been exposed as meaningless. The Tory leader seems to be trying to forget his homophobic voting record from the past, and to deny his alliance with other homophobes in the present.

“He wants gay and lesbian people to vote for him – but when it comes down to it, he’s not prepared to vote for us. Only Labour will defend our rights and stand up for the gay community”