Boris Johnson has called gay men 'tank-topped bumboys', and referred to gay marriage as 'three men and a dog'.

JOHNSON, who this week won a hard-fought battle to become the new leader of the Conservative Party, has a very public history of anti-LGBT slurs, and has never issued a direct apology for his past comments.

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According to a PinkNews report, during his leadership campaign, Johnson was challenged over his slurs in 1990s newspaper columnon multiple occasions, but has declined to apologise.

He said:

If you’re going to excavate and disinter every single quotation from the millions of words I have written, you can of course try and twist things one way or another but I have a very proud record.

Colm Howard-Lloyd, Chairman of LGBT+ Conservatives commented:

As Mayor Boris funded pride and banned anti-gay tube ads. In parliament he backed same-sex marriage, and as Foreign Secretary encouraged UK embassies to fly the rainbow flag, and had robust discussions with Commonwealth colleagues on progress needed.

However as a journalist he used some distinctly hurtful and unhelpful language, and that has dented the confidence of many in the LGBT community. I expect him to address that at an early opportunity.

During the Leadership race Boris made a number of commitments via LGBT+ Conservatives, and I look forward to working closely with the new Prime Minister and his team. We have work to do!