Nick Clegg accused of offending Christians as he calls opponents of gay marriage 'bigots' - before frantically backtracking

Lib Dem leader releases speech attacking people who say same sex marriage should not be a priority

Hours later the speech is re-issued, with the 'bigot' remark deleted

Tory MPs react by calling for the Deputy Prime Minister to resign



Former Archbishop of Canterbury sa ys people with sincerely held beliefs 'should not be treated in this way'

Aides scramble to insist the speech was a draft and should never have been released

Nick Clegg was accused of 'riding roughshod' over the views of the religious last night after he was forced to withdraw comments in which he branded opponents of gay marriage 'bigots'.

The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, described the Deputy Prime Minister as 'immature' over remarks he had issued ahead of a reception to mark the end of a consultation on same-sex weddings.

The Liberal Democrat leader was due to describe opponents of the reform as 'bigots', according to a Cabinet Office press release.

Nick Clegg speaking to the actor Simon Callow on the night he made a speech at a reception to celebrate the end of the Government's consultation on gay marriage

He was expected to say: 'Continued trouble in the economy gives the bigots a stick to beat us with, as they demand we “postpone” the equalities agenda in order to deal with “the things people really care about”.

'As if pursuing greater equality and fixing the economy simply cannot happen at once.'

But as the incendiary detail of his remarks quickly began to circulate, it prompted a bitter row with MPs on the Tory Right who oppose gay marriage, as well as church leaders.

Ninety minutes after issuing the offending statement, Mr Clegg's office mounted an extraordinary attempt to 'recall' it. Five minutes later, a new version of the speech was issued, with the reference to 'bigots' taken out and replaced with 'some people'.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg was today forced to withdraw the statement which accused opponents of gay marriage of being 'bigots'

Lord Carey Of Clifton (left), the former Archbishop of Canterbury, said many people would be 'highly offended' by Mr Clegg's remarks while Conservative MP Peter Bone (right) said the Deputy PM should resign



The episode was branded a 'shambles' last night and succeeded in angering both opponents of gay marriage, who objected to the original remarks, and those in favour of the reform, who were dismayed that Mr Clegg had not delivered them.

Lord Carey said: 'There will be many Christians and non-Christians who will be highly offended to be called bigots. People who oppose same-sex marriages are doing so on the basis of deeply-held beliefs and we should not be treated in such a way.

'These are important issues that affect society and therefore it is paramount for the Government to give serious attention to those who oppose the rush into gay marriage. I'm totally for equality – that's not the issue. The issue is should we redefine traditional marriage to include same-sex relationships.'

Peter Tatchell, the political and gay rights campaigner in his Elephant and Castle, London, flat. Mr Tatchell said: 'Homophobic bigotry does still exist in sections of our society, and we should not be afraid to say so.'

Of Mr Clegg's attempt to withdraw the remark, Lord Carey added: 'He must have realised that it would offend people and it doesn't actually help the discussion. I think it is fairly typical of the way that he and some other people in the Coalition have tried to ride roughshod over people's deeply held views. This is not the way to conduct mature discussions.'

Right-wing Tory MP Peter Bone said Mr Clegg should resign. 'This appears to be his real opinion,' he said. 'If he is saying people who disagree with him on gay marriage because of conscientious or religious grounds are bigots then he should not remain Deputy Prime Minister.

'I would never go around accusing somebody who disagreed with me of being a bigot, and I don't care if it's a Liberal or a Conservative minister who's doing it now – they should not remain in post.'

The row had unhappy echoes of the so-called 'Bigotgate' furore which engulfed Gordon Brown during the last general election. The then prime minister was caught describing pensioner Gillian Duffy as a 'bigoted woman' after she confronted him over immigration.

Colin Hart, of the Coalition for Marriage campaign group, said: 'These intolerant remarks show that there is nothing liberal about Nick Clegg.

'It also shows his contempt for the millions of ordinary men and women in this country who oppose the politically correct drive to rip up the centuries-old definition of marriage.

'Perhaps Mr Clegg should stop attacking the British public and concentrate on fixing the UK's broken economy, which he was actually elected to do.'

But gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, among the guests at last night's reception in central London, said: 'Quite clearly, some people who oppose same-sex marriage do so because of personal prejudice and intolerance.

'Homophobic bigotry does still exist in sections of our society, and we should not be afraid to say so.'

Adrian Trett, chairman of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) Liberal Democrats group, another attendee, tweeted ahead of the event: 'Hope Nick does use the word "bigot" in his speech as he's absolutely right!'

But Labour MP Thomas Docherty said Mr Clegg's media operation was a 'shambles', adding: 'This is a government so incompetent they cannot even put together a press release properly.'

A spokesman for Mr Clegg insisted: 'This was not something the Deputy Prime Minister has said. It's not something he was ever going to say because it's not something he believes. It was removed from the draft copy, that should never have been sent out, for that very reason.'

Mr Clegg revealed last night that the Government has received 228,000 responses to the consultation on equal marriage, more than any other issue under the Coalition government.

At the reception later, he said: 'I am a little bit surprised to see cameras outside the gates for the slightly obscure reason that they expect me to use a word about opponents of gay marriage that I had no intention of using, would never use. It is not the kind of word that I would use.'

A Downing Street source said: 'The Prime Minister is committed to this reform and has said we are going to do it before 2015.