As certain regular readers seem to find difficult to understand, I have never denied that the clear majority of Labour MPs would vote in favour of the redefinition of legal marriage to include same-sex couples.
Far more of them would oppose it than my interlocutors seem to think, from Blair legacy loyalists who regard the matter as settled permanently by civil partnerships and that measure as one their hero's greatest achievements, to the 50 or more who know that the local Catholic machine could and would simply remove them as candidates without a second thought, plus anything up to half that number who now have the same relationship with the mosque committees.
All of these are found at every level, up to and including the Shadow Cabinet. The second one, of course, always has been, throughout the history of the Labour Party. The 2010 intake is comprised very largely of people who have come up through the Movement over many decades, rather than the untested and the blow-ins whose only real experience, if any, was in student-based identity politics. Yvette "Abortion" Cooper, take a bow.
But the point has always been that Labour never had any intention of compelling anyone to vote for this, nor of punishing anyone who failed to do so, including anyone who went so far as to vote against it. In view of the above, how could it possibly? Likewise, Labour has never had any intention of attempting to introduce this, but only of permitting its MPs to vote for it if the Coalition did so or, including in the event of a Labour Government, if it were to be the subject of a Private Member's Bill, with no suggestion of the government time without which such a Bill stands virtually no chance of success. That, obviously without the caveat's having been made explicit, will be the Labour manifesto commitment in 2015, if there is any mention at all of this issue.
But even that presentation by the Coalition now looks as good as certain never to happen. This whole matter is so toxic within the Conservative Party that any discussion of it has had to be forbidden on the floor of that party's Conference this week. Half - yes, half - of its activists have already resigned because of it. A Coalition for Marriage rally today was packed to the rafters and gave a rapturous reception to speakers including Ann Widdecombe. So there will be no Bill in the course of this Parliament. Just as there will be no Government Bill, the only kind with any realistic chance of making it onto the Statute Book, in any subsequent Parliament. The, frankly, daft idea to abolish husbands and wives is dead. Forget about it.
Mr Lindsay.
ReplyDeleteIf these "local Catholic machines" have any influence whatsoever over Labour MP's, have they been asleep for the last 50 years?
Where were these "Catholic machines" when the Labour Party introduced no-fault divorce and the 1967 Abortion Act?
Where were these "Catholic machines" when the Labour Party introduced an Equality Bill which made it illegal for Catholics to follow their consciences at work, and illegal for adoption agencies to prioritise married couples in the placement of children?
Where were these "machines" when Tony Blair lowered the age of homosexual consent, introduced abortion and contraception for children without parental consent, abolished Section 28,created Civil Partnerships, effectively outlawed Christianity in the workplace or the public square, and sacked policemen, judges, marriage councillors, firemen and civil registrars who didn't support its secular, anti-marriage agenda?
We can only assume these dormant "Catholic machines" supposedly controlling the selection of 50 Labour MP's have been completely comatose throughout decades of Labour Government.
Unless you have another explanation for their pathetic silence during years of revolutionary anti-Christian Labour Government?
Oh dear. Wrong again, David.
ReplyDeleteNot only did Maria Miller make it clear that the vote will happen and she will be supporting equality - and Boris Johnson backed this up - but David Cameron has informed the Independent that he wants to get the decision out of the way in the next year.
It was made quite clear at Conference that Labour will be amending the proposed legislation to give religious organisations permission to carry out same sex marriages if they so choose. That will probably pass as the Tories will have a free vote and a number have already expressed their support as have the Liberal Democrats.
Labour have also made it clear that they will introduce this legislation under the unlikely scenario of the ConDems not doing so.
Living on Merseyside, the influence of the Catholic machine is far less than you imagine - indeed, this is why all the progay legislation went through and was largely supported by our local MP's, and the same will happen again. Because there are many Catholics who have gay members of their family and gay friends and will take about as much notice of the church as they do about contraception and abortion.