David Cameron claims to have modernised the Conservative party. He says under his leadership the Tories have embraced diversity and equality in a way befitting a 21st century party. In our podcast today we examine his progressive claims in the light of a filmed interview Cameron gave to Gay Times, in which he seemed uncertain of his party's voting record and equivocal about its commitment to gay rights, even at one point asking to stop filming.
Labour's Ben Bradshaw, one of first openly gay MPs, says it was a "car crash" of an interview, and that it exposes Cameron's commitment to inclusivity as superficial.
But Matthew Sephton, chair of LGBTory, the Conservative lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual group, as well as a parliamentary candidate in Salford & Eccles, argues that while Cameron was not at his best in the interview, the Conservatives have fundamentally changed under his leadership.
Joining Guardian columnists Julian Glover and Anne Perkins on our studio panel is Tris Reid-Smith, the editor of Gay Times, who agrees that Cameron has made real changes to his party. Julian says the Tories' detoxification process began before Cameron took over as leader. Anne says the Tory leader's interview with Gay Times wouldn't have happened at all five years ago.
• This footnote was added on 20 April 2010. In this podcast one of the speakers says " . . . there is no openly gay congressman from either party now in American politics." In fact there are congressmen who are openly gay, including Barney Frank, a senior figure in the House of Representatives for the Democrats.
