A new kind of liberalism

Having watched the Lib Dems vote for the foxhunting ban and their enthusiasm for banning smoking in pubs, I've often wondered if some of them actually have any idea what the word "liberal" means. Confirmation that they don't came today in the Sunday Times:

The Lib Dems face a further blow with some Muslim members threatening to leave because of Hughes’s bisexuality. Last week Hughes said that he had had homosexual as well as heterosexual relationships after being confronted by a tabloid newspaper with evidence that he had telephoned gay chatlines. In previous interviews he had repeatedly denied that he was homosexual.

That a party which professes itself to be liberal can embrace homophobes is truly an indictment of the times in which we live. Whoever they are, they should be flung out of the party now.