David Jones, who was involved in a furore over comments he made on same-sex parenting, will no longer fill the role of Welsh Secretary, as announced during a Government reshuffle today.

Mr Jones voted against the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill at First Reading, and made comments during the same-sex marriage debate last year, to say marriage was for “a warm and safe environment for the upbringing of children, which is clearly something that two same-sex partners can’t do.”

He was today removed from the post of Welsh Secretary after less than two years in the role.

Speaking to ITV, Mr Jones said Prime Minister David Cameron “100 per cent has my support”, saying the PM was “very kind”, and that he understood his removal from the Cabinet was about “freshening up the team.”

Stonewall Cymru’s director, Andrew White, said remarks expressed by the former Conservative cabinet minister in an interview broadcast on ITV Wales were “offensive and inaccurate”.

When asked on why he had voted against the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill on 5 February, the Conservative MP said: “I was one of two cabinet ministers who did vote against it and it was for various reasons. Certainly in constituency terms, I felt that overwhelmingly the constituents of Clwyd West were opposed to the change.

“But also I regard marriage as an institution that has developed over many centuries, essentially for the provision of a warm and safe environment for the upbringing of children, which is clearly something that two same-sex partners can’t do. Which is not to say that I’m in any sense opposed to stable and committed same-sex partnerships.”

He later released a statement clarifying his position, saying he supported civil partnerships, but reiterating that same-sex couples should not be allowed to adopt.

Also announced in the reshuffle was that veteran MP Ken Clarke, who voted for same-sex marriage, would step down as a minister without portfolio.