John Major: Moving On

“Social mores have moved on from the way in which we were brought up, with the values that we had. They have moved and changed.

“And that is why issues such as gay marriage have proved so toxic for the Conservative party.

“Because for many Conservatives, people who are conservative because their instinct is to conserve, to change slowly and only when you know it is certain for the better, that is classically Conservative.

“For people like that who form the bulk of our party and a great deal of our country too, these are difficult issues, these bewildering social changes and mostly it is my generation and older who are unsettled by these changes.

“We may be unsettled by them, but David Cameron and his colleagues have no choice but to deal with this new world. They cannot Canute-like order it to go away because it won’t."

Telegraph.

Insert obligatory line about how King Canute didn't think he could turn back tides.
He did it to show it was impossible.
Irony!