OUR LATEST ISSUE
Gay news: 'The Tory group is divided on homosexual rights', says dissident MEP
David Cameron: "Can we stop for a second?"
Cameron switches off during gay interview
David Cameron's attempts to court the gay vote suffered a setback when he repeatedly stumbled during an interview about gay rights, to the extent that at one point he asked for the camera to be turned off.
In a video interview with Gay Times, the Tory leader was asked why, given his recent statements on gay rights, his MEPs refused to support a motion condemning a homophobic law in Lithuania.
Cameron said he was unaware of this particular vote, before insisting that he rarely instructs MEPs "to vote in this way or that because they have their own leader and their own group".
He added: "I've tried to have free votes where possible on these sorts of issues but, er ... I'm responsible for votes here.
"Sorry, it's not a very good answer."
When the interviewer asked whether free votes were appropriate over a fundamental human right, Cameron said:
"You're right, you're right. Sorry, sorry. You're right ... the two are very different. Sorry."
Near the end of the interview, Cameron faltered when asked whether Conservative peers would have a free vote on an amendment to allow civil partnerships to take place in churches.
He said: "I think it's an important debate, this, and I don't rule out changes. I think it's right there should be a free vote. It was a backbench amendment."
The interviewer then told Cameron: "If we vote for you, we want you to vote for us."
Cameron replied: "I do, I do. Do you know ... can we stop for a second? I really want to answer these questions. I'm finding ... either can we do a television interview or can we do a press interview. I'd like to start completely from fresh."
Cameron attempted to clarify his position during a routine press conference yesterday.
He told Channel 4 News: "The point is, in the European parliament, our MEPs have a general approach of not voting on the internal matters of another country, even if we disagree with the particular law that there is."
Cameron has been heavily criticised from within his own party and by UK gay rights groups for withdrawing his MEPs from the main centre-right grouping in the European parliament and forming a new alliance that includes the Polish Law and Justice party, which has repeatedly been accused of homophobia.
The now Lib Dem MEP Edward McMillan-Scott, who was expelled from the Conservative party last July for rebelling against the alliance with the Polish Law and Justice party, told Channel 4 News that Cameron's clarification was a "smoke screen" and a "cover-up".
He said: "The Tory group [in the European parliament] is divided on homosexual rights but in order not to expose that they just abstain. It's the weak reaction of a divided group."
