Government is a "Brokeback Coalition"

By Ben Aulakh

A Tory MP is being reported to have compared the current coalition government to a Hollywood film featuring two gay cowboys at the weekend.

David Davis – the former shadow home secretary – labelled the current Conservative/Lib Dem ruling pact as “the Brokeback Coalition,” in reference to the film Brokeback Mountain.

The former shadow home secretary is reported to have repeated the comment – attributed to Lord Aschroft - in a South London pub the Boot and Flogger at the weekend.

Mr Davis made the allusion to the Hollywood blockbuster film at a private lunch with his former colleagues at Tate & Lyle – Mr Davis was chairman of the firm during the 1980’s.

However the former shadow minister was seemingly unaware that three journalists from the Financial Times were sitting nearby and overhead his comments.

Mr Davis also derided David Cameron’s “big society” plan as “Blairite window dressing.”

He has also been highly critical of the government, claiming that it “has a mechanism for dealing with the Liberal party, most of who are inside the coalition.

He added, “It does not have a mechanism for dealing with the Conservative Party, most of who are outside the coalition.”

Mr Davis initially resigned from the Tory frontbenches to fight a protest by-election against a Labour MP on the issue of the detention of terror suspects without charge.

Mr Davis said that he was enjoying life on the backbenches, however he also added that there are not many jobs “unless you are female,” a reference to the Lib Dems ushering very few women into ministerial office.

Photograph from Robert Sharp/English Pen