Lesbian Tory candidate to fight Glasgow by-election this week

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A lesbian candidate selected by the Conservative Party to fight the Glasgow North East by-election will find out on Thursday how successful her campaign has been.

Ruth Davidson, 30, who lives with her partner in Partick, pledged to fight an “honest campaign” when her candidacy was announced in August.

The former BBC journalist will go head to head against her old colleague David Kerr, who is the Nationalist candidate.

She has announced that if elected to Westminster, she will never claim on expenses for food, furniture or household goods.

She has also promised to give her unedited expenses claims to local newspapers have her accounts approved by local auditors in each financial year.

Davidson has said she does not often speak about her sexuality because “it’s not the most interesting part of my life”.

According to the Sun, she said: “I don’t believe sexuality is an issue now.

“In terms of the Conservative Party, we saw in July of this year David Cameron standing up in front of Stonewall and saying, ‘Look, we apologise for Section 28. We got it wrong’.

“It was an unequivocal apology on the subject.

“In terms of coming out I had my first female partner about four or five years ago. I was open about it at the time and I’m open about it now.

“But I don’t tend to talk about it because it’s not the most interesting part of my life, you know? Some people are gay and that’s it.”

Eleven other candidates are in the race, although only one, Labour’s Willie Bain, actually lives in the constituency.

Davidson is unlikely to be successful, given that the area has been a Labour stronghold for years.

The by-election is being held due to the vacant seat left by Speaker Michael Martin, who was forced to stand down over the expenses row.

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