Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw has said “a deep strain of homophobia still exists on the Conservative benches”.

Mr Bradshaw, one of three gay men currently in the cabinet, made the comments as a new poll suggested more gay people were turning to the Tories. Chris Bryant, another gay minister, said: “If gays vote Tory they will rue the day very soon.”

But Tory frontbencher Alan Duncan said the two men’s comments showed Labour was “actually the nasty party”.

Being seen to be more “gay friendly” has been a key part of David Cameron’s mission to decontaminate the Conservative Party brand and make it more acceptable to young, socially liberal voters. There are currently two openly gay men on the Conservative front bench – Shadow Environment Secretary Nick Herbert and Shadow Commons Leader Mr Duncan.

In a symbolic gesture aimed at further healing relations with the gay community and burying the Tories’ “nasty party” image, Mr Cameron this week apologised for Section 28 – the controversial law brought in by the Conservatives in 1988 banning local authorities from portraying homosexuality in a positive light…

Labour has also been pushing its gay credentials. But new research by Jake, a networking organisation for gay professionals, suggests a worrying trend for Labour, with 38% of Jake members who took part saying they would vote Conservative at the next election, 1% higher than the general population, according to an average of recent opinion polls.

Labour came third on 20% behind the Liberal Democrats – even though 86.6% of those surveyed said Labour was the party that had achieved most for gay people and just 4% said the Tories were “gay friendly”, compared with 44% for Labour and the Lib Dems.

- BBC News

What a shocker. Gay people may vote for reasons NOT related to their sexuality… but then Chris Bryant, aka “Captain Underpants” (for reasons above and obvious – yes that is the [up]standing MP for The Rhondda Valley posing in his tightie whities while touting for casual sex via a gay dating site) has never really struck me as someone with a nuanced appreciation of stereotyping.

It is however a useful distraction from his “homophobic constituents forced me to fiddle” defence for flipping his second-home allowance twice in two years. Trying to claim £58,000 for repairs and renovation while earning over £60,000 a year representing one of the most deprived former mining communities in the South Wales valleys hasn’t gone down particularly well either.

Mr Bryant, the Tories are the least of your worries right now… though it’s lovely to finally meet that donkey Labour have always claimed they could stand for election in The Rhondda and still win.

* right dishonourable members

[APOLOGIES TO AUSTRALIAN READERS WHO MIGHT HAVE BEEN HOPING FOR SOMETHING TO COVER 'UTEGATE', BUT AS I'M IN THE UK I'M NOT REALLY FAMILIAR WITH THE BACKGROUND. I CAN HOWEVER RECOMMEND A USEFUL SUMMARY HERE THAT SEEMS TO COVER IT. ADMIN-DEM]