Freedom To Marry: A Question Of Leadership

Marriage should available to all [sic]

We recognise that civil partnerships were an important step forward in giving legal recognition to same sex couples. But civil partnerships are not marriages, which express a particular and universally understood commitment. We feel strongly that religious freedom must be protected. This means that religious groups should be allowed to conduct same sex marriages if they choose, but equally none should be compelled to do so. The strongest legal safeguards must be put in place to guarantee this freedom.

We appreciate that some people oppose equal marriage, including many who are not homophobic but have a profound religious conviction about the nature of marriage. We believe that this debate should be conducted in a spirit of mutual respect and understanding.
Nevertheless, a substantial majority of the public, including people of faith, support equal marriage. Other countries, including Spain and Canada, have already taken this step. The Government is right to press ahead with this reform, and we urge MPs and Peers to support it.

Gavin Barwell MP
Lord Black of Brentwood
Alistair Burt MP
Ruth Davidson MSP
Jane Ellison MP
The Rt Hon The Lord Fowler PC
The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP
The Rt Hon Nick Herbert MP
Kris Hopkins MP
Margot James MP
Bernard Jenkin MP
Boris Johnson
The Rt Hon Patrick McLouglin MP
Tim Montgomerie
The Baroness Noakes
Matthew Parris
The Rt Hon Nicholas Soames MP
Paul Swaddle
The Rt Hon Desmond Swayne TD MP
Freedom to Marry
London SE1

The Sunday Telegraph. 

This is bigged up with a news story; 'Boris Johnson and Michael Gove join new Tory campaign group to push for same-sex marriage - Senior Conservatives today launch a new group which will campaign strongly for same-sex couples to be allowed to get married in church - in defiance of their party’s traditionalists.'

Note the biggest name here is one Boris Johnson.
Is it overly cynical to wonder if - like his recent call for a referendum on EU membership - this has more to do with BoJo's leadership ambitions, here by trying to outpace David Cameron by seizing the socially liberal high ground?
And was Friday's "leak" of how Cameron supports an opt-in on religious gay weddings an attempt to pre-empt the above letter?
[Note nether Dave nor Maria Miller are signatories, despite having come out in favour of its main proposal... on friday].
Do you really think Gove and Johnson (a very recent convert to marriage equality*) recently had some Damascene conversion on how unjust it was that The Gays wouldn't be able to get married in church, and felt they must speak out and start a group?
All this is pure speculation on Fagburn's part, of course, but I think that Cameron and Johnson are at war, and we are mere pawns in their game.

PS The above cartoon indicates where the Telegraph stands on all this. I wrote yesterday that it seemed odd the Tories are flexing their pro-gay-marriage credentials in the pages of the anti-gay-marriage Telegraph. I guess it makes sense for that very reason...

* Johnson said on BBC Radio 4 yesterday, that his comparison of gay marriage to letting "three men and a dog" marry was "a Socratic question"!