Tory MP quits after saying ‘ being gay is dangerous to society’
A VETERAN Tory MP was forced to resign last night after telling a group of students that being gay is ‘dangerous to society’.
Andrew Turner, a former Conservative Party vice- chairman, dramatically quit as MP for the Isle of Wight just hours after details emerged of his conversation with politics students at Christ the King College in Newport.
Mr Turner, 63, is also said to have told the group of A-level students homosexuality is ‘wrong’.
Tory high command acted swiftly after being alerted to the row.
Conservative chief whip Gavin Williamson rang Mr Turner to establish the facts and he was told to resign hours later.
A Tory source said: ‘We want to make
‘Terrifying in this age’
clear there is no place in the party for those views.’ The MP also came close to being deselected two years ago after it emerged his fiancee had left him for one of his advisers.
Mr Turner, who was an Oxford contemporary of Theresa May and her husband Philip, has held the safe Tory seat since 2001. He was due to be reselected at 4pm yesterday but the meeting was postponed until after next week’s local elections following the intervention by Tory Central Office.
In a resignation statement last night, Mr Turner gave no explanation for his departure.
He said he had been ‘incredibly fortunate’ to represent the seat, and would support his successor as Tory candidate.
‘I am grateful for the support I have received from islanders and proud of the record that Conserv- atives have in delivering for the island,’ he added.
The row came just days after Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron, a committed Christian, was forced to say he does not believe gay sex is ‘a sin’ after dodging the question for days.
Mr Turner’s remarks came during a talk on Wednesday. He was asked if he would be attending the island’s gay pride event.
Student Esther Poucher, a gay rights campaigner, posted on Facebook that she had been ‘truly shocked’ when he said he would not be going. She wrote: ‘He told us that he’d been invited, but wasn’t intending to go.
‘This is because (and this is a direct quote) he thinks that homosexuality is “wrong” and “dangerous to society”. At this answer, I had to leave.’
She added: ‘It’s terrifying that in this age and point in our development as a society, there are still people that can’t care enough about a person’s wellbeing to just accept who they are.’
Another student said he was ‘scared’ by the remarks.
Toby Sheard told PinkNews: ‘The fact that we have MPs with these views in our governing party scares me that we could easily see ourselves going back into the past.’ Mr Sheard added that Mr Turner had eventually explained that his views were held ‘for a religious reason’.
Mr Turner did not respond to calls yesterday.
Dave Stewart, the Conservative leader of the Isle of Wight Council, described Mr Turner’s comments as ‘very disappointing’.
He added: ‘I could not condone in any way the comments by Andrew Turner and I feel he is right to stand down. Island Con- servatives are fielding several candidates in next week’s council elections who are gay and this is most certainly not an opinion that either myself or anyone else in the team of Conservative council candidates would ever support.’
Mr Turner has faced controversy before and came within a whisker of deselection at the 2015 election because of revelations about his colourful private life. Local Tories had feared the traditionally safe seat would be lost amid allegations Mr Turner had become a ‘laughing stock’ on the island.