Iain Dale claims former Tory MP believes party lost its 'more useful bigots' after same-sex marriage go-ahead

The political blogger published the 'quote of the campaign' online

Publisher and political blogger Iain Dale

Political blogger Iain Dale has claimed that a former Conservative MP believes the party lost its “more useful bigots” after same-sex marriage was legalised.

Dale, who became the first openly gay Conservative candidate to contest a Parliamentary election in 2003, revealed the remarks on Conservative Home but declined to name the man or woman behind them.

“I was chatting to a former Conservative MP the other day about [late political organiser] Sir Anthony Garner, who was bemoaning the state of the party organisation and the fact that many of his members had died in the last few years or had buggered off to UKIP,” Dale wrote.

“’The policy on gay marriage has had a bigger impact than Number 10 realises locally. They’ve even driven away our more useful bigots’. Surely a front-runner for quote of the campaign?”

Dale later clarified that the pair were talking about “the lack of party activists on the ground”. “He made the remark with a chuckle. It wasn’t meant to be serious,” Dale told The Independent.

Gay marriage was implemented in the UK on 29 March last year - a landmark moment for a country that little more than a decade ago had a law banning schools and local authorities from “promoting” homosexuality or depicting it as “a pretended family relationship”.

Prime Minister David Cameron hailed the move, saying that no two people should be denied the right to get married on the basis of their sexuality.

“For the first time, the couples getting married won’t just include men and women – but men and men, and women and women,” he said in a statement. “When people’s love is divided by law, it is the law that needs to change.”

Rainbow flags were hoisted over two government buildings in what Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg called “a symbol to celebrate a massive achievement”.