Lib Dem Chief Whip Alistair Carmichael has said the party was “not deaf” to the concerns of LGBT members – despite admitting an MP who tried to ban HIV positive immigrants from entering the UK.
LGBT+ members hammered the party’s leadership on the first day of their autumn conference over the decision to let former Tory MP Philip Lee join.
Dr Lee dramatically defected to the Lib Dems during a speech by Boris Johnson last week, costing the government its majority ahead of a crucial Brexit vote.
But some members were left furious by the decision – pointing an amendment tabled to the Immigration Bill by Dr Lee in 2014.
That amendment would have seen immigrants tested for “prescribed pathogens” including HIV before getting immigration permission.
(Image: PA)
“Persons who apply for immigration permission must demonstrate that they are not carriers,” the proposed amendment read.
At the time Liberal Democrat MP Julian Huppert described the proposal as “rather astonishing”.
Members asked party chiefs to assure them “with a straight face” that the Bracknell MP, who also previously abstained on a vote on equal marriage, would have “joined the party in a million years if Brexit was not a factor”.
Liberal Democrat Chief Whip Alistair Carmichael said he was “desperately sad” that some LGBT+ members left the party, but defended the process for recruiting potential defectors.
The Orkney and Shetland MP told the conference the party “had detailed discussions” about any defectors political and personal pasts.
Mr Carmichael praised Dr Lee’s work reforming Britain’s Justice system as a government minister – saying it pointed to his liberal beliefs.
He added: “It is only after that we decide – the chief whip in consultation with the leader – if we will admit them to the whip.
“Could we have handled it better? Hands up we absolutely could.”
Since joining, Dr Lee has said he will meet with LGBT party members at the conference in Bournemouth.
Mr Carmichael added that he would never admit anyone who was had questionable positions on equality into the party.
He admitted that he had been concerned about reported comments by a recent defector which concerned BAME members.
It is understood to be a reference to ex-Labour MP Angela Smith’s “funny tinge” comments.
He confirmed the MP had only been allowed to join after being given a “clean bill of health” by the party’s leading BAME activists.
Mr Carmichael also confirmed that the party had declined applications from MPs to defect.
He added: “It is not about if I agree with them…very often I don’t.
“The question I need to answer is if that person in reaching the position they did, usually for a values reason, reached a position that was incompatible with our beliefs as Liberal Democrats .
“We don’t just take anyone, and we never will.”
