I’m gay, says Tory cabinet minister with ex-wife and three children
DAVID Mundell yesterday became the first openly gay Tory Cabinet minister.
The Scottish Secretary said he had made a new year’s resolution to reveal his sexuality after a long time grappling with ‘conflicting emotions’.
The divorced father of three informed David Cameron of his decision on Tuesday.
A few minutes after the news was made public yesterday, the Prime Minister gave his 53-year-old colleague a supportive pat on the arm in the Commons chamber.
A spokesman for Mr Cameron said last night: ‘The PM is very pleased and delighted that he is in a position to take this step, and it’s very encouraging to see.’
In a statement posted on his website, Mr Mundell said: ‘Gender and sexuality should make no difference whether you are a Cabinet minister or in any other walk of life.
‘New year, new start. I have already set out my political priorities for the year and now I am setting out my personal one. Having taken one of the most important decisions of my life and resolved to come out publicly as gay in 2016, I just want to get on with it, and now, just like that, I have said it.’
Mr Mundell admitted he still could not rationalise his feelings, which he said were not unusual for a man of his age.
He added: ‘Everybody who gets to this point, has had their own journey. I have certainly been on mine – conflicting emotions, of doubts and fears, but ultimately positive and uplifting, with an unstoppable direction of travel.’
Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson, who is also gay, said she was ‘really proud’ of her friend, while politicians from other parties including SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon offered their support and congratulations.
Mr Mundell is the only Conservative MP north of the border and has served as Scottish Secretary since last year’s election. He voted in favour of gay marriage in 2013.
He married in 1987 and has two sons and a daughter with his exwife Lynda. The couple are understood to have separated 13 years ago and divorced in 2012. Their eldest son Oliver, who is standing for the Scottish Parliament, yesterday backed the decision, saying on Twitter: ‘I admire my dad as much today as I did yesterday. Brave decision to go public and the right one.’
Dumfries-born, Mr Mundell was a pupil at Lockerbie Academy and went on to study law at Edinburgh University before receiving an MBA from the University of Strathclyde Business School.
He worked as a solicitor before
‘Positive and uplifting’
joining BT as group legal adviser for Scotland in 1991, and later head of national affairs.
He was a district councillor with the former SDP before switching to the Tories, for whom he became a Member of the Scottish Parliament in 1999.
He became popular with journalists and opponents, largely eschewing the tribalism that sours Scottish politics.
For reasons that have been lost in the mists of time, but are thought to relate to his hair, he was nicknamed ‘ Fluffy’ – a moniker still used to this day.
In 2005 he switched to Westminster and narrowly defeated Labour in the rural and picturesque Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale seat.
Mr Mundell’s decision to come out makes him the first ever openly gay Tory Cabinet minister.
Alan Duncan became the first Tory MP to announce he was gay back in 2002, and Crispin Blunt, Nick Boles and Nick Gibb are among the gay men in the party to have held ministerial roles.
Labour politician Chris Smith was Britain’s first openly gay Cabinet minister when he was made culture secretary in 1997.
Lord Mandelson, who was outed, held a number of Cabinet roles. Angela Eagle, now business spokesman, became the first woman in Parliament to announce she was a lesbian.
Benjamin Cohen, chief executive of the gay publication Pink News, said it was easier for MPs to come out than it was for people in many other fields.
He added: ‘It’s harder in areas like sport and it remains difficult in business.’