David Cameron sends a black man to calm down the KKK. (Not quite - but very, very close.)

This is bizarre and appalling. David Cameron is sending his most senior gay MP to Warsaw to tell a group of proudly homophobic politicians to behave. (Click here for the story in the Guardian...and if you'd like to learn about the cultural context in which Cameron's tactical deployment was made, please click here.)

You couldn't make it up. There will be some who read this post and won't understand what I find offensive here. For the avoidance of doubt, I consider this as thoughtless as sending your most senior black delegate to a Ku Klux Klan convention. The most powerful show of progress and inclusion would have been if Mr. Cameron himself went to Poland. Apartheid fell when white people turned against it. Homophobia will fall when straight people turn against it. Indeed, this is why it is falling. But this...As a piece of gesture politics goes, it's a slap in the face.

For the record, I don't think that David Cameron is prejudiced. I just don't think he "gets it" when it comes to gay issues. To wit, there's his distastrous interview with the Gay Times where he's flummoxed by the simplest of questions.

A pattern is forming here. There are many people who will be very well served by a Cameron government, several of whom are dear friends of mine. But the Cameron government won't be serving the gays too well; and that's not just a shame, it's shameful.