Gay MP Alan Duncan demoted from Conservative Shadow Cabinet
The openly gay Conservative MP Alan Duncan is to be demoted from his role as Shadow Leader of the House of Commons. He will now be a junior Justice spokesman.
Sources at the Conservative Party told PinkNews.co.uk that Mr Duncan will be demoted as part of a number of minor changes to the Tory front-bench team to be held tomorrow.
Millionaire Mr Duncan who held a civil partnership was secretly filmed complaining that MPs live on rations and are “treated like shit”. This after he was forced to apologise and pay back nearly £4,000 he claimed for gardening costs.
He was filmed campaigner Heydon Prowse, the editor of Don’t Panic magazine drinking at the House of Commons bar.
Mr Duncan told Mr Prowse: “I spend my money on my garden and claim a tiny fraction based on what is proper. And I could claim the whole bloody lot, but I don’t.”
When asked how much he spends on his garden, he said: “About £2,000 a year and this was £1,000 a year on expenses, you know. It’s just, I’m afraid the world has gone mad.”
He summarised life as an MP as: “Basically, it’s being nationalised, you have to live on rations and are treated like shit.”
Conservative Leader David Cameron decided not to sack Mr Duncan after he apologized saying: “The last thing people want to hear is an MP whingeing about his pay and conditions.
“It is a huge honour to be an MP and my remarks, although meant in jest, were completely uncalled for. I apologise for them unreservedly.”
He has put his foot in it a number of times recently. In April, he joked that he wanted to kill Miss California, Carrie Prejean, on Have I Got News For You after she publicly disagreed with gay marriage.
On the same show, he mocked Jacqui Smith for claiming for her husband’s porn films and subsequently had to apologise for his own expenses claims.
Alan Duncan was the first openly gay Conservative MP.
