Tory candidate brags about voting against same-sex marriage in re-election bid
A Tory candidate has bragged about voting against same-sex marriage as one of the reasons voters should re-elect him next month.
Speaking to his local paper, Tory candidate Bob Blackman was asked to list 5 reasons why he should be voted as an MP on 7 May.
The main reason he gave was the fact that he voted against the Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Act in 2013.
Mr Blackman was elected MP for Harrow East in 2010. and in a pledge to retain his seat, in an interview with the Harrow Times he listed his rebellion against same sex marriage as the number one reason to be voted back in.
He said: “You can take me on my record. As MP for Harrow East, I rebelled against my Government when I felt my constituents were not being best served and acted in accordance with my principles. I voted for a referendum on Europe before it became policy, against same sex marriage”.
During his time as an MP, Mr Blackman has spoken out controversially on various occasions. In 2012 he told BBC News that Cameron’s backing of religious same-sex marriages was wrong on “principle”, as marriage is “between one man and one woman”. He then proceeded to express how re-introducing Section 28 would be more appropriate than pushing ahead with marriage reform.
A few days after Blackman’s anti-gay remarks, the MP for Harrow East was exposed as a love cheat. His mistress Carol Shaw, told the Sunday Mirror “I couldn’t believe a man who had an affair with me for over 11 years could have the cheek to preach about the sanctity of marriage.”
Nonetheless, just a month after his 11 year affair was revealed, Blackman told the Harrow Observer that legalising equal marriage would make it “difficult to promote Christian values in Parliament”.
