The Conservative Party should be “shouting from the rooftops” about gay marriage ahead of the next election, a senior Tory says.
Arch-moderniser, Nick Boles, is a Government minister and an ally of Prime Minister David Cameron.
But many say the redefinition of marriage has done more damage to Tory membership than any single policy in the party’s history.
Surge
The surge in support for UKIP has been attributed in part to voters who are socially conservative on issues like marriage.
Nick Boles claims the Conservatives can reach out to young people by highlighting policies like gay marriage, which caused a lot of division in the party.
He said: “We should not shy away from those achievements but shout them from the rooftops. They should make us proud.”
Pointless
“Having taken the pain, not to be proud of them is completely pointless”, he added.
In October, a cabinet minister revealed that David Cameron thinks pushing through gay marriage was the worst political decision of his premiership.
The Prime Minister still supports the principle of gay marriage, but he thinks pushing it through Parliament was a “terrible” political mistake.
Mr Cameron was speaking at a private meeting of senior constituency officials at the Conservative Party Conference.