Both of the National party's openly gay MPs have backed Bill English to become the next leader of the party and therefore the next Prime Minister. Bill English English will replace John Key who has announced his resignation. It emerged this afternoon that other contenders for the leadership position had withdrawn leaving English unopposed and likely to be confirmed tomorrow. Long-time MP and Attorney General Chris Finlayson, the world's first openly gay Attorney General and list MP Paul Foster-Bell, who came out at the weekend to counter claims by evangelical church leader Brian Tamaki that the 'sins' of gay people led to the Christchurch earthquakes, have thrown their support behind English. Finlayson is a long-time personal friend of English and his family and is understood to be godfather to one of his sons. English, a devout Catholic and representative of a fairly conservative rural Southland electorate, has voted against all bills put before Parliament in recent years to provide legal equality for glbti people.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 8th December 2016 - 8:38pm