Leaving aside the fact that it was probably the Republicans’ anti-abortion stance that proved a more salient issue for women than gay marriage, such a literal read-across to British politics is dangerously misleading. In the United States, same-sex couples have far fewer legal rights than married couples. In this country, the Civil Partnership Act passed by the Blair government in 2004 removed any such distinctions. Mr Osborne is perfectly aware of this fact. He is also aware that there is little popular pressure in favour of gay marriage – on the contrary, there is widespread opposition – but that, too, is deemed irrelevant. The only point that matters here is political posturing. Mr Osborne wants to demonstrate that the Conservatives really are a “modern” party by picking a symbolic and needless fight with social conservatives.