Benjamin Harris-Quinney suspended from Conservative Party

The chairman of the oldest Conservative think tank, the Bow Group, has been suspended for making comments against LGBT rights at a Christian event in Moscow and calling for Conservatives to vote UKIP in the election.

Benjamin Harris-Quinney is a councillor on East Herts District Council and chairman of the influential Conservative Party Bow Group. In the run up to the elections earlier this month he called on eurosceptic Conservatives to vote UKIP in places where the Conservatives couldn't win so the writing was on the wall as far as his future with the Conservative Party was concerned. The discovery of a video of him briefing against gay rights and celebrating the fact that most Conservative MPs voted against gay marriage was the final nail in the coffin. The complaint against him is believed to have been made by radio presenter, political blogger and publisher Iain Dale.