Gay Tory attacks Britain’s Olympic athletes for going to China
One of the most senior Tories in London has attacked the British Olympic team for going to the Beijing Games and implied the Mayor was forced to go.
Brian Coleman, London Assembly member for Barnet & Camden, was recently appointed chairman of the city’s Fire and Emergency Planning Authority.
However, despite his important office, he continues to generate headlines with his outspoken comments.
“While Britain’s athletes may have won more medals than usual, they must remember that they are tainted with the blood of Tibetans, Falun Gong practitioners and Roman Catholic priests,” he wrote in a newspaper article last week.
“If you are looking for young heroes and role models, forget the highly paid athletes who leave their consciences at passport control and consider the sacrifice being made by our soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq.”
Mr Coleman, who was named last year by PinkNews.co.uk as one of the most influential gay people in the country, was slammed by the British Olympic Association chair Lord Moynihan.
“I have never heard such rubbish,” he told The Times.
“Our soldiers and athletes deserve more respect and any further response to Mr Coleman’s sentiments would be a waste of words.”
Mr Coleman also said the Mayor of London was effectively forced to attend the closing ceremony in Beijing last month.
A spokesman for Mr Johnson said: “It is preposterous to suggest that Boris Johnson was forced to go to Beijing. He did so with great enthusiam and is extremely grateful to his hosts.”
Mr Coleman’s comments are another unwelcome embarrassment for an administration only elected in May.
In just four months there have been a string of resignations from Mayor Johnson’s team.
In August TIm Parker, a businessman with a tough reputation appointed First Deputy Mayor, Chief Executive of the Greater London Authority and Chairman of Transport for London, decided to step down.
He remains an adviser.
Deputy Mayor Ray Lewis stepped down in July amid allegations over his private life and claims relating to his time as a vicar and while running an academy for young people.
Mr Coleman, re-elected to the Assembly for a third term on May 1st, has a reputation for generating headlines.
He was the first Tory Chairman of the London Assembly in 2004, and has served twice as deputy chairman.
He sparked controversy last year when he claimed that former Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath was warned to stop having sex with men in public.
Sir Edward was told by police to stop cruising for sex as part of a vetting process in 1955, he said in an article for the New Statesman.
“The late Ted Heath obtained the highest office of state after he was supposedly advised to cease his cottaging activities in the 1950s,” Mr Coleman wrote on the New Statesman’s website.
He claims that the police warning was common knowledge in the Tory party.
Senior Conservative MPs denied that Sir Edward was gay.
Last month Mr Coleman claimed that he has been passed over for a senior post due to homophobia by fellow Tories.
