19/04/2024
Gay Conservative MP Scott Benton has resigned as a Member of Parliament, a move which will trigger a by election and could see the Tories lose another seat, as they trail the main opposition, Labour, so heavily in the polls at present. The BBC News Channel reports that Mr Benton was facing a local vote on whether to remove him, following the imposition of a Commons ban in the wake of a lobbying scandal. The MP, who represented Blackpool South since 2019, had been exposed as accepting bribes for lobbying, by the Times Newspaper. He was secretly filmed by undercover reporters, who were posing as gambling industry investors, saying he could lobby ministers. He was also recorded offering to table parliamentary questions and leak a confidential policy paper. He lost an appeal against a suspension, after a Commons investigation found he had caused "significant damage" to Parliament's reputation. During the campaign for the 2019 General Election, David Brown, who stood for the Brexit Party against Benton, expressed concerns over his links to the anti-abortion organisation Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), which has campaigned against same-sex marriage and has been accused of homophobia. In response, Benton stated that he was no longer linked to SPUC. He said that he supported their anti-abortion stance but was not homophobic and was a supporter of same-sex marriage, according to an article on Wikipedia. Indeed, Mr Benton married his partner in 2021 at the Palace of Westminster. As a gay Conservative Christian, he has often been at odds with the mainstream of the LGBTQIA+ movements. Nevertheless, his resignation will be mourned by people who believe that representation for our community in Parliament is important.
