Crispin Blunt MP sees off attempt to deselect him by a mammoth margin of 5-1
In a move that illustrates that Theresa May’s description of the perception of the Conservatives as the “nasty party” is wrong, Crispin Blunt successfully beat a campaign to block him standing as the party’s candidate at the next election yesterday.
Blunt, 53, a respected figure whom served as prisons minister between 2010 and 2012 and who came out in 2010 on ending his marriage, had been subjected to a postal ballot after traditionalists complained that the “announcement that hew was ‘gay’ was the final straw for some members”.
Yesterday, however, Blunt was reselected by a margin of 5-1. This has shown that this “irrational action” was brought about by an intolerant minority and is illustrative that even with the elderly cliques that control local Conservative associations, bigotry will not reign. We congratulate Crispin Blunt MP on his reselection.
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I think, Matthew, you are jumping to a multitude of conclusions and being unfair to those who tried to de-select him. There have been many gay MP’s who have happily represented constituencies with an elderly, retired element. Maybe Blunt’s problem is that he is a downright hypocrite having, in the House, been throughly unsupportive of gay peoples’ rights. The other local feeling is that he hid his homosexuality from his wife, whose fortune and support embellished his career. It could be that the renegade constituents disliked a leeching hypocrite. Nick Herbert is a neighbouring MP. His constituency is even more old fashioned, yet Herbert is a popular and well liked MP who has never had an issue with his sexuality. There is far more to this story….
What a bigoted response. The elderly who attacked him were Christians who detest gays. They made their views very clear.
Oh do talk sense instead of some illogical rant. You have no clear idea as to why they took objection to him, other than the facts stated. And stop describing everybody who has a view as being bigoted. As for bigotry go and use your head and read in Hansard what your hero, Blunt, had to say about homosexuality….hardly favourable.
Having read the comments of those who tried to deselect him, I must say they came across as pretty bigoted individuals. Their focus was on his sexuality rather than his record. Regarding other matters, they were probably angry about his stance on Syria but this was no reason to waste time on this pointless and somewhat nasty campaign.