Former British Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath was gay, and regularly cruised parks for sex until he was warned he was in danger of wrecking his career, a London politician claims. Heath, who never married, died in 2005 at the age of 89. He was a Conservative Party Prime Minister from 1970 to 1974. The outing was made by London Assembly member Brian Coleman, also a Tory, in an online article for the political magazine The New Statesman. Coleman writes that Heath would regularly visit gay cruising areas for sex in the 1950s, but when he was named to the Privy Council he was warned he could be discovered and it could ruin his political career. Coleman, who is gay, also claims the Conservatives have a high number of gay people, all closeted, in prominent positions – and accuses them of being two-faced by voting against the repeal of the notorious Section 28, which banned the ‘promotion' of homosexuality in schools. "I have no time for MPs who voted against repealing Section 28 and then put their hands down young Tory activists' trousers when drunk at party conference," he wrote. It is the first time that Heath has been publicly outed, but the suggestion has been around for more than a decade. A book written in 2005 by an openly gay friend of Heath's raised the speculation by saying that Sir Edward decided as a young man to sacrifice his sex life in order to become Prime Minister. But the book did not specifically identify Heath as being gay. Leading Tories are dismissing Coleman's article. Derek Conway, the man who succeeded Heath in his riding in Parliament said: "Ted was absolutely wedded to politics." "If there was some secret there, I'm sure it would have come out by now," said Conway. But gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell backs Coleman. "It's a long-standing open secret," said Tatchell. "It is amazing his sexuality wasn't the subject of tabloid revelations during his lifetime." Ref: 365gay.com (m)
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Saturday, 28th April 2007 - 12:00pm