Nick Denys

14th Oct 2011

What is Conservatism? At Conference David Cameron told his party, and the country, that it was his Conservative instincts that led him to support gay marriage. He boldly stated that it was natural for the party of the establishment to want lovers – whether they are a man and a women, man and man, or woman and women – to be able to bond themselves into the state, and subscribe to one of society’s long held values.

With almost perfect timing a book – Tory Pride and Prejudice, authored by Michael McManus – has been published that charts the history of the Conservative Party and homosexual law reform. Greg Barker, in an interview for the book, summarises Cameron’s view on such matters: “David’s approach has been non-doctrinaire, remembering to remind people that what we believe in first and foremost is good manners, civility, kindness and a spirit of generosity which is nothing to do with political correctness.” This position is supported by ex-leaders Michael Howard and John Major. In an interview for the book Major said: “If we are a libertarian party, we can’t be libertarian except for people who are gay.”

The book shows that this was a mainstream issue, not a peripheral one. In the view of David Laws the Lib Dems would have found it difficult to form a full coalition with the Conservatives if they hadn’t possessed a modern outlook: “The previous attitudes of Conservatives on both the ‘personal liberal agenda’ and the ‘social liberal agenda’ would clearly have been a big barrier, potentially, to the type of coalition we have.” As recently as the late 90s there was a significant element in the Party who did not want to see any change to the official Conservative attitude. This insistence maintained the stigma of the Conservative’s being the nasty party, driving away many natural supporters. To quote Shaun Woodward:  “I felt the Tory party had left me, not the other way around”. With the benefit of hindsight Michael Howard now realises the damage that was done, especially by section 28:  “It became a kind of totem of a certain image that a lot of people wanted to pin onto the Conservative Party. I would not do it again. I think it was a mistake. I am sorry I did it.”

Tory Pride and Prejudice starts off in the mid-50s when prompted by a number of scandals in the establishment Winston Churchill asked John Wolfenden to conduct a report into ‘Homosexual Offences and Prostitution’. The original proposals to decriminalise homosexual acts were described as “a charter for buggery” from the Conservative benches. The Earl of Dudley said: “Prison is much too good a place for them; in fact, that is a place many of them like to go –for obvious reasons.” I think Sir Cyril Black MP was trying to be understanding when he said: “I do not believe we serve the cause of these men by suggesting that they are incapable of a better life.”

As you may have gathered McManus, along with his researcher Will Timmins, unearthed a treasure-trove of golden quotes from Hansard and old intervies; one of my favourite being Lord Arran’s reaction to the merchant navy’s attempts to stop decriminalisation being applied to their ships:  “From what I am told, if there ever was a horse in those stables it has long since bolted”

 Tory Pride and Prejudice is about the public relationship between the political party that was in Government for most of the 20th Century and homosexual law reform. Those who are looking for salacious gossip, and are hoping that Conservative ministers – past and present – will be exposed for living double lives will not get their kicks from the book. McManus touches on Edward Heath (“The author of this book worked for Sir Edward Heath between 1995 and 2000 and was left in no doubt whatsoever that Heath was a gay man who had sacrificed his personal life to his political career, exercising iron self-control and living a celibate existence as he climbed the ‘greasy pole’ of preferment.”) but avoids adding to other speculation.

The personal stories of gay Conservatives who at first believed that they couldn’t consider entering parliament because of their sexuality (Guy Black), then those who decided to ‘come out’ once they were well established MPs (Alan Duncan, Nigel Evens, Crispin Blunt) and finally the many0 who entered parliament in 2010 ‘open’ (Nick Boles, Iain Stewart, Mike Freer) provides a touching account of how times have changed. According to Stonewall the Conservative Party has more openly homosexual MPs than all the other parties put together. I find it great that in one sense this matters (the Conservative Party is now comfortable with this issue), but in another sense it doesn’t matter at all (it is about individuals and their abilities, not their sexual preferences).

Tory Pride and Prejudice is much more than a comprehensively researched and well written account of the Conservative Party’s relationship with homosexual law reform. It is a book about the Party’s relationship with the modern world and the journey it took to become comfortable with it.