First Tory MP to announce he is gay wins open support from party leader

CONSERVATIVE Party leader Iain Duncan Smith said yesterday he supports a senior colleague who became the party's first member of Parliament to announce that he is gay.

Duncan Smith, who is battling to ditch the Conservative’s prudish image and make it more appealing to mainstream voters, wrote to Alan Duncan saying that his avowal of his sexuality would not hurt his political career.

Duncan, who speaks for the main opposition party on foreign affairs, announced yesterday that he is gay. He told The Times newspaper that “living in disguise as a politician in the modern world simply isn’t an option”.