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LONDON — The U.K.’s equalities minister, Kemi Badenoch, launched a full-throated defense of under-fire Scottish National Party leadership hopeful Kate Forbes amid a bitter row over same-sex marriage.
Forbes, one of the early front-runners to replace Nicola Sturgeon at the top of the pro-independence Scottish National Party, is fighting to stay in the race after saying in an interview that she would have voted against legalizing gay marriage “as a matter of conscience” had she been a lawmaker at the time the bill was passed by the Scottish parliament.
Several key backers of Forbes — a devout Christian belonging to the socially conservative Free Church of Scotland — have since pulled their support.
But Badenoch told a POLITICO event in London Tuesday night that she would defend the right of Forbes to hold those views, and refused to condemn her comments in her role as equalities minister.
“I think that is sad because I believe in freedom of conscience,” she said of the backlash. “That’s one of the things that makes this country great. It’s one of the reasons why many people want to live here.”
Badenoch — viewed as a rising star in the Conservative Party, which is at odds with the SNP on the key question of Scottish independence — said she admired Forbes “for not being dishonest” about her faith.
“It’d be very easy for her to tell lies, just so that she could win that election,” Badenoch said of Forbes. “And she’s not doing that, and I think that that’s something that people need to take into account.”
Badenoch also condemned SNP politicians who have yanked their support from the under-fire contender. Shelved endorsements of Forbes, she argued, show “the level of un-seriousness of many of the people who engage in political activity and commentary.”
Asked by POLITICO whether she would condemn the views Forbes had put forward, Badenoch directly declined, and said that while she personally supports gay marriage, she “would not want people to condemn me for having personal views.”
Pointing to her role as “guardian” of the U.K.’s Equality Act, which includes religious protections, Badenoch said: “To ask me to criticize someone for their religious beliefs, when I’m supposed to be safeguarding it, shows that those people don’t understand equality. What they want is to use the Equality Act as a sword to fight their own personal battles, rather than as a shield to prevent others from discrimination.”
Forbes generated further headlines Tuesday after telling Sky News she believed having a child out of wedlock “would be wrong according to my faith” — although she stressed doing so is a choice in a free society.
Asked by broadcaster STV News in a later interview if she intended to see her campaign through as key backers quit, Forbes said: “At the moment, yes.”
Andrew McDonald contributed reporting.
