David Silvester

David Silvester is an English local politician, formerly of the Conservative Party and the UK Independence Party. He is a town councillor for Henley-on-Thames.[1]

Political career

Silvester worked for Shell and was elected to the town's council after his retirement. Originally a member of the Conservative Party, he joined UKIP in 2013, in protest against Prime Minister David Cameron's support for same-sex marriage in the United Kingdom, which Silvester claimed was in defiance of the Coronation Oath Act 1688.[2]

Controversy

In January 2014, Silvester received national media attention in the United Kingdom after a letter to the Henley Standard in which he said that the floods that hit the UK in 2013 were God's punishment for the introduction of gay marriage.[3] Subsequently, he also said that homosexuality was a "spiritual disease" and should be healed. UKIP suspended him from the party on 19 January 2014.[4] His comments prompted a Facebook campaign by gay activists to send the popular anthem "It's Raining Men" to UK number one.[5]

References

External links


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