Politics

Nick Herbert, the 45-year-old successor to Howard Flight in the Conservative seat of Arundel and South Downs, became the second member of David Cameron's shadow cabinet to enter into a civil partnership. David Cameron sent a message of support to the pair.

A civil partnership ceremony was held at Lambeth town hall in south London last week and was attended by close relatives. The reception was held at Brown's Hotel in Mayfair. 

Last year, Alan Duncan, 51, the first openly homosexual Conservative MP, formed a Civil Partnership with James Dunseath, 39, who runs the press office at the International Futures Exchange, in the City of London. None of Gordon Brown's Cabinet has entered into a civil partnership. Duncan's opposite number, Lord Mandelson, remains "single", despite living with his Brazilian-born boyfriend, Reinaldo da Silva.

Read more: Leading Consertative MP Forms Civil Partnership

Allowing Iran's president to deliver Channel 4's Alternative Christmas Message will cause "international offence", the government has said.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was shown telling viewers of the British TV channel "the general will of nations" was for a return to "human values". The decision angered MPs, who branded him a "dangerous fanatic" with anti-Semitic and anti-gay views.

Channel 4 said it had offered viewers an "alternative world view". The speech, in Farsi with English subtitles, was the channel's 16th alternative message and was shown after a brief introduction to Mr Ahmadinejad contextualising his views.

Read more: Ahmadinejad Christmas Speech Reaction

The UK will continue to work towards ending the discrimination of gay and bisexual men and women – and transgender people –  around the world, Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary David Miliband has pledged.

He was speaking hours before the French Presidency of the European Union was due to deliver a statement to the United Nations General Assembly. “Today’s statement serves as a reminder that the campaign for equal rights is far from over,” Mr. Miliband said.

“As we celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in too many countries around the world are having their human rights abused."

Read more: Miliband Backs UN Continuing Support for LGBT People Worldwide

The officials whose job is to count the number of people in the UK have finally overcome one of their last phobias and are going to collect statistics on how many people call themselves gay.

All major government population surveys will now include a question about sexuality. Participants will be asked to classify themselves by putting a tick against one of four options: heterosexual/straight, gay/lesbian, bisexual, or "other".

But as in all government surveys, respondents will be entitled to refuse to answer the question, or put themselves down as "don't know".

It will mean that for the first time, there will be accurate statistics on the number of people there are in Britain who think of themselves as gay or bisexual. The best estimate at present is the figure used by Treasury actuaries, who believe that it is around six per cent.

Read more: Question: Are you gay?

An employment tribunal ruled on Wednesday that the Ministry of Defense must pay heavy damages to a lesbian soldier harassed by a male colleague.

The tribunal found that Lance Bombardier Kerry Fletcher is entitled to £187,000.

"This is as severe a case of victimization following an allegation of sexual harassment as one could see in an employment tribunal," the ruling said. "The claimant was subjected to a sustained campaign of victimization over a lengthy period. The victimization extended to imposition of disciplinary sanctions, impinging the claimant's mental stability and obstructing her transfer to a more suitable posting."

Read more: Lesbian soldier Kerry Fletcher wins £187000 harassment claim