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”.

“The Tory view has always been, ‘We don’t mind, but don’t say.’ Well, that doesn’t work any more,” Alan Duncan was quoted as saying.

“I think the only realistic way to behave these days, particularly if you are a politician, is to be absolutely honest.”

While several lawmakers from the ruling Labour Party are openly gay, no Tory legislator had come out publicly before.

The Conservatives, who governed Britain from 1979 to 1997, have struggled to regain their popularity since losing office.

Opinion polls consistently show them trailing Labour.

In a letter to Alan Duncan that was released by the Conservatives, Duncan Smith said, “What you have done is honest and will not affect you in any way politically in the future.”