Editing Chris Grayling (section)

===Shadow Cabinet: 2001–2010===
[[File:Chris Grayling.JPG|thumb|upright|left|Grayling as Shadow Home Secretary in 2009]]
Grayling served on the Environment, Transport and the Regions [[Select committee (United Kingdom)|Select committee]] from 2001 until he was promoted to the [[Whip (politics)|Opposition Whips' Office]] by [[Iain Duncan Smith]] in 2002, moving to become a Spokesman for [[Department of Health and Social Care|Health]] later in the year. He became a Spokesman for [[Department for Education and Skills (United Kingdom)|Education and Skills]] by [[Michael Howard]] in 2003.

Following the [[2005 United Kingdom general election|2005 general election]], he became a member of Howard's [[Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (United Kingdom)|Shadow Cabinet]] as [[Shadow Leader of the House of Commons]] and, after the election of [[David Cameron]] as the [[Leader of the Conservative Party (UK)|leader of the Conservative Party]], in December 2005, he served as the [[Shadow Secretary of State for Transport]]. In June 2007, he was made [[Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions]], a post he held until January 2009 when he became [[Shadow Home Secretary]].

Grayling became known as a national politician through his "attack dog" pressure on leading Labour politicians.<ref name=telegraph-20081221>{{cite news |url=http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/iainmartin/6026017/Chris_Grayling_rises_James_Purnell_plummets/ |title=Chris Grayling rises. James Purnell plummets. |last=Martin |first=Iain |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=21 December 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111117042847/http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/iainmartin/6026017/Chris_Grayling_rises_James_Purnell_plummets/ |archive-date=17 November 2011}}</ref> He was heavily involved in the questioning of [[David Blunkett]], the then Work and Pensions Secretary, over his business affairs, which led to Blunkett's resignation in 2005.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/davidblunkett/Blunkett-clings-on-for-survival.2674574.jp|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120726210153/http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/davidblunkett/Blunkett-clings-on-for-survival.2674574.jp|url-status=dead|archive-date=26 July 2012|title=Blunkett clings on for survival|work=The Scotsman}}</ref>

Grayling challenged [[Tony Blair]] and his wife [[Cherie Blair|Cherie]] over the money they made from lectures while Blair was Prime Minister. He also challenged minister [[Stephen Byers]] over his handling of the [[Railtrack]] collapse.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article582876.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070227130519/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article582876.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 February 2007 |title="Cherie in trouble again" October 2005 |publisher=Timesonline.co.uk |access-date=29 July 2016}}</ref>

====Role in the expenses scandal====
Between 2001 and 2009,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/5315228/Chris-Grayling-to-stop-claiming-second-home-allowances-MPs-expenses.html |title=Chris Grayling to stop claiming second home allowances: MPs' expenses |first=Jon |last=Swaine |date=12 May 2009 |access-date=1 August 2009 | location=London | work=The Daily Telegraph}}</ref> Grayling claimed expenses for his flat in [[Pimlico]], close to the Houses of Parliament, despite having a constituency home no further than 17 miles away.<ref name="telegraph-expenses">{{cite news|last=Watt |first=Holly |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/5305242/Chris-Grayling-claimed-for-London-flat-despite-nearby-constituency-home-MPs-expenses.html |title= Chris Grayling (11 May 2009) |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=22 February 2006 |access-date=13 May 2009}}</ref> Grayling said he uses the flat when "working very late" because he needs to "work very erratic and late hours most days when the House of Commons is sitting."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chrisgrayling.net/speech/200801-expenses.htm |first=Chris |last=Grayling |publisher=Grayling's website |title=MPs Expenses – January 2008 |date=January 2008 |access-date=1 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090816052800/http://www.chrisgrayling.net/speech/200801-expenses.htm |archive-date=16 August 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> During the [[United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal|Parliamentary expenses scandal]], ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' reported that Grayling refitted and redecorated the flat in 2005 costing over £5,000.<ref name="telegraph-expenses"/> Grayling's expenses issue was seen as embarrassing for the Conservative Party as he had previously criticised Labour ministers for being implicated in sleaze scandals.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/shadow-cabinet-expenses/5633897/Chris-Graylings-expenses.html | location=London | work=The Daily Telegraph | title=Chris Grayling's expenses | date=26 June 2009}}</ref>

In 2010, it was reported by ''[[the Daily Telegraph]]'' that an [[IP address]] associated with the [[Parliamentary estate]] had been discovered attempting to remove references to Chris Grayling's role in the [[United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal|expenses scandal]] from his Wikipedia page. They attempted the edit to remove the information 5 times and later received a warning from a Wikipedia administrator.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/7696484/MPs-accused-of-Wikipedia-expenses-cover-up.html|title=MPs accused of Wikipedia expenses 'cover-up'|last=Leapman|first=Rebecca Lefort and Ben|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=8 May 2010|access-date=2 December 2019|issn=0307-1235}}</ref>

====Comparing Moss Side to ''The Wire''====
As Shadow Home Secretary, Grayling provoked controversy in August 2009 when he compared [[Manchester]]'s [[Moss Side]] area to the American TV crime drama ''[[The Wire]]''. His comments received an angry response from some Manchester locals and criticism from the police.<ref name="men260809">{{cite news|date=26 August 2009|title=Grayling's comments on Moss Side condemned|first= Chris|last= Osuh |url=http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1133692_graylings_comments_on_moss_side_condemned|work=[[Manchester Evening News]]|access-date=12 December 2009}}</ref><ref name="bbc01">{{cite news|date=25 August 2009|title=Anger at Tory's Wire comparison |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/8221231.stm|work=[[BBC News]]|access-date=12 December 2009}}</ref> Having been out on patrol for a day with the police, observing the results of a shooting at a house, he described himself as having witnessed an "urban war". Police responded that gang-related shootings in [[Greater Manchester]] had fallen by 82 per cent from the previous year and that to speak of "urban war" was "sensationalistic".<ref name="men260809"/>

A local councillor, Roy Walters, complained of Moss Side unfairly being a "negative target" due to historical associations.<ref name="men260809"/> Defending his comments, Grayling said, "I didn't say Moss Side equals Baltimore. What I said is that we have in Moss Side symptoms of a gang conflict in this country which I find profoundly disturbing."<ref name="bbc01" /> Baltimore, with a population of about 600,000, was noted as having 191 gun related murders in the previous year, in comparison to Moss Side, population 17,537, which had none.<ref name="men260809"/>

====Statistics on violent crime====
Grayling came under criticism as [[Her Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition (United Kingdom)|Shadow Home Secretary]] over the Conservative Party's use of statistics on violent crime.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/lies-damn-lies-and-tory-crime-statistics-1889927.html |title=Lies, damn lies and Tory crime statistics |date=5 February 2010 |access-date=7 April 2010 | location=London | work=The Independent | first=Andy | last=McSmith}}</ref> In February 2010, the Conservative Party issued press releases to every constituency in the UK claiming that crime had "risen sharply" in the UK. They failed, however, to take into account the more rigorous system for recording crime. The chairman of the [[UK Statistics Authority]], [[Sir Michael Scholar]], said that the figures Grayling was using were "likely to mislead the public" and "likely to damage public trust in official statistics" as the way in which crime was calculated had been changed in 2002.<ref name=tele9mar10>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/7402232/Full-scale-of-violent-crime-revealed.html |title=Full scale of violent crime revealed|work=The Daily Telegraph|date= 9 March 2010|access-date= 24 May 2013}}</ref>

A Conservative-commissioned report by the independent House of Commons library suggested that, depending on how figures were calculated, Grayling's claims may have been justifiable and that violent crime may have risen in the period between 1998 and 2009.<ref name=tele9mar10/> The incumbent Home Secretary, [[Alan Johnson]], called Grayling's use of crime statistics "dodgy" and said that the British Crime Survey clearly showed that violent crime had reduced by 41% over the same period.<ref name=tele9mar10/>

====Gay couples in B&Bs====
In March 2010, Grayling was recorded at an open meeting of the [[Centre for Policy Studies]] think tank saying that during the debates on civil liberties under the Labour Government, he had felt that Christians should have the right to live by their consciences and that Christian owners of [[bed and breakfast]]s should have the right to turn away gay couples.<ref>''[[BBC News]]'', 4 April 2010, [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8602371.stm "Grayling suggests B&Bs should be able to bar gay guests", BBC News.]</ref> Grayling said:
<blockquote>"I personally always took the view that, if you look at the case of should a Christian hotel owner have the right to exclude a gay couple from a hotel, I took the view that if it's a question of somebody who's doing a B&B in their own home, that individual should have the right to decide who does and who doesn't come into their own home. If they are running a hotel on the high street, I really don't think that it is right in this day and age that a gay couple should walk into a hotel and be turned away because they are a gay couple, and I think that is where the dividing line comes."<ref>''The Observer'', 3 April 2010, [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/apr/03/tory-tape-gays-bed-breakfast Secret tape reveals Tory backing for ban on gays]</ref>
</blockquote>

When the recording was released by ''[[The Observer]]'', on 3 April 2010,<ref>''The Observer'', 3 April 2010, [https://www.theguardian.com/politics/audio/2010/apr/03/chris-grayling-secret-tape Listen to the secret recording: Top Tory backs bar on gays]</ref> Grayling's comments caused an angry response from gay rights campaigners,<ref name="guardian1">''[[The Guardian]]'', 3 April 2010, [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/apr/03/tory-tape-gays-bed-breakfast Secret tape reveals Tory backing for ban on gays]</ref> with [[Ben Summerskill]], Chief Executive of the gay rights group [[Stonewall (UK)|Stonewall]], saying that this position would be "illegal" and "very alarming to a lot of gay people who may have been thinking of voting Conservative".<ref name="guardian1"/> [[Lord Mandelson]], the most senior [[Homosexuality|gay]] minister in the (then Labour) Government, added that the comment showed that the Conservative Party had not changed, that "when the camera is on they say one thing, but when the camera is off they say another".<ref>{{cite newspaper The Times |last= Watson |first= Roland |date= 5 April 2010 |title= Senior Tory Chris Grayling forced into retreat on gay rights in B&Bs |url= https://www.thetimes.com/article/senior-tory-chris-grayling-forced-into-retreat-on-gay-rights-in-bandbs-d052hpp7b83 |access-date= 27 February 2025 }}</ref> Conservative Party leader [[David Cameron]] was subsequently urged to "back or sack" Grayling,<ref>{{cite news|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|date= 4 April 2010|url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/election-2010/7553100/David-Cameron-urged-to-act-over-Chris-Graylings-anti-gay-comments.html |title=David Cameron urged to act over Chris Grayling's 'anti-gay' comments}}</ref> with gay rights campaigner [[Peter Tatchell]] saying that "Cameron's silence is worrying. Many voters – gay and straight – will be disturbed by his failure to swiftly disown Grayling's support for homophobic discrimination. What does this say about the sincerity and seriousness of his commitment to gay equality?"<ref>{{cite news|work=[[The Guardian]]|date= 4 April 2010|url= https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/apr/04/grayling-real-tories-image-homophobic |title=Chris Grayling reveals the real Tories}}</ref>

Anastasia Beaumont-Bott, founder of [[LGBTory (United Kingdom)|LGBTory]], a gay rights group which campaigns for the Conservatives, announced that she would be voting for [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]], not the Conservatives, in response to Grayling's comments. She said, "I feel guilty because as a gay woman affected by LGBT rights I am on record saying you should vote Conservative, and I want to reverse that. I want to go on record to say don't vote Conservative. I'd go as far to say that I'll vote Labour at this general election."<ref>''The Independent'', 8 April 2010, [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/im-voting-labour-founder-of-tory-gay-rights-group-says-1938700.html I'm voting Labour, founder of Tory gay rights group says]</ref> Beaumont-Bott was joined in defecting from the Conservatives to Labour a week later by gay rights campaigner David Heathcote.<ref>{{cite web|work=Pink News|date= 14 April 2010|url=http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2010/04/14/video-david-miliband-welcomes-former-tories-who-have-quit-party-over-gay-rights/ |title=David Miliband welcomes former Tories who have quit party over gay rights}}</ref> Grayling's comments were defended by a number of commentators, including the [[Today (BBC Radio 4)|''Today Programme'']] presenter and gay broadcaster [[Evan Davis]] and leading Christian groups.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.christian.org.uk/news/bbcs-evan-davis-grayling-comments-not-homophobic/|title=BBC's Evan Davis: Grayling comments not 'homophobic'|work=The Christian Institute|date=28 April 2010}}</ref>

Grayling apologised on 9 April 2010, saying: "I am sorry if what I said gave the wrong impression, I certainly didn't intend to offend anyone... I voted for gay rights, I voted for [[Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations|this particular measure]]." Various commentators speculated that he might have been "hidden away" by his party when he made relatively few public appearances in the days of the [[2010 United Kingdom general election|general election campaign]] that followed.<ref>''The Observer'', 11 April 2010, [https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/apr/11/chris-gayling-gays-bb They seek Chris here, they seek Chris there...]</ref><ref>{{cite news|work=The Daily Telegraph|date= 13 April 2010|url= http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/christopherhope/100034152/chris-grayling-finally-makes-an-appearance-at-conservative-manifesto-launch/ |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100417001905/http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/christopherhope/100034152/chris-grayling-finally-makes-an-appearance-at-conservative-manifesto-launch/ |url-status= dead |archive-date= 17 April 2010 |title=Chris Grayling finally makes an appearance at Conservative manifesto launch}}</ref> It is unclear whether his remarks were the reason that David Cameron chose to appoint [[Theresa May]] as [[Home Secretary]] in his new Cabinet, rather than Grayling who held the position in the Shadow Cabinet; Grayling was not given any Cabinet post, as had been predicted by some media commentators prior to the election.<ref>{{cite news|work=The Guardian|date= 14 April 2010|url= https://www.theguardian.com/politics/wintour-and-watt/2010/apr/14/david-cameron-cabinet-who |title=David Cameron's cabinet: who's in and who's out?}}</ref> On 31 January 2013, it was reported that Grayling would vote in favour of [[same-sex marriage]] in England and Wales.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2013/01/31/chris-grayling-and-baroness-warsi-to-vote-in-favour-of-same-sex-marriage/ |newspaper=Pink News|date= 31 January 2013|title=Chris Grayling and Baroness Warsi to vote in favour of same-sex marriage|access-date=21 October 2014}}</ref>