David Cameron tells Attitude: ‘I raised Russian gay rights in meeting with Putin’
By Will Stroude
In an interview in the new issue of Attitude, David Cameron reveals that he raised the issue of gay rights with the Russian President Vladimir Putin at 3am.
While talking about about how Britain should deal with foreign countries with poor records on LGBT rights, the Prime Minister says he drew attention to Russia’s recently-introduced anti-gay legislation during a G20 meeting Mr Putin was chairing.
“We raise these issues with every country, and I personally remember raising it in the middle of the night in a meeting with Vladimir Putin, at about three in the morning at the G20 he was chairing”, Mr Cameron says.
“So we don’t hold back. We recognise that some countries take a radically different approach, but we should tell them why we think we’ve got the right one.”
Adding that he’s “not convinced” that Labour’s recent decision to appoint Michael Cashman as an international LGBT rights envoy is the right one, Mr Cameron also argues that he wants all Foreign Office ministers to raise the issue with their respective counterparts, and not “farm it off” to a single person.
The Prime Minister makes his case to the LGBT community ahead of the general election in a broad ranging interview, speaking about his personal pride at getting equal marriage passed, how he will look at better HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention, and how his wife Samantha keeps him up to date with current bands.
We also speak to Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg, Nigel Farage, Natalie Bennett and Nicola Sturgeon ahead of May’s vote in the new issue, which also includes interviews with US pop giant Adam Lambert, David Beckham, and Westlife’s Mark Feehily. The May issue is available to download to your mobile, iPad or tablet device now, at Pocketmags.com/Attitude.
It will be out in shops from next Wednesday (April 1), and you can also have it delivered directly to your door at newsstand.co.uk.
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