'Thing in the cupboard' anyone?

Former prisons minister Crispin Blunt has seen off an attempt to deselect him by his local party, The Guardian reports. Mr Blunt faced the deselection battle after coming out as gay in late 2010.

Former chair of the local Conservative Association, Tony Collinson, remarked:

'I can tell you that the selection committee was not happy to have anyone that might have had any sort of thing in the cupboard.'

Mr Blunt hit the headlines in July 2010 following a speech in which he described the high prison population in England and Wales as a 'national disgrace' and suggested that prisoners should be able to look forward to more than grinding boredom.

His joke joke about middle class oiks for whom different rules applied, interpreted as a veiled reference to Prime Minister, David Cameron, reportedly upset Downing Street and led to calls for him to be sacked.

You can read our Director Richard Garside's comment on Mr Blunt's 2010 speech here.