A re-standing Tory MP has branded the Coalition For Marriage (CFM) “bigots” after they posted leaflets in her constituency telling voters she supported gay marriage and encouraging people to vote for her opponents. The group are now mounting a national campaign and they claim to have enough members to unseat “dozens” of pro-gay marriage Tory MPs.
Dr Sarah Wollaston was unrepentant when leaflets were put out in her constituency of Totnes. She posted it on Twitter with the message “Coalition for marriage are stuffing these through letter boxes in my area. Thanks bigots, I’m proud of that vote!”
Although the CFM was beaten in last year’s when gay marriage was passed in parliament, they have always pledged to use their members to unseat the MPs who voted for it. Officials at the CFM have told Breitbart London a “good number” of their 690,000 members had voted Conservative but were likely to switch this time.
A total of 117 Tory MPs voted in favour of gay marriage, whilst 128 voted against. Campaigners say they have identified dozens of seats where the CFM have a membership that is larger than the majority held by the pro-gay marriage MPs including several Tory seats. While polling by ComRes found the issue could be catastrophic for David Cameron, costing him more than a million votes, including in key marginal.
If their members did vote Conservative last time the loss of them could prove catastrohpic for David Cameron in key marginals. Legally the CFM cannot tell members which way to vote but can remind them that the local candidate voted for gay marriage, whilst their opponents opposed it.
They privately admit this means their members will probably back the UKIP candidate. Despite their campaign gay marriage is unlikely to be repealed and even UKIP have decided to drop their opposition.
The party is now neutral on the issue as its policy committee concluded there was little point fighting the measure once it became law. One member of the committee was reported as saying “there is no point picking this scab”.