For Jamaicans there is no more sensitive subject than homosexuality. I was reminded of this at dinner recently with a very senior Jamaican politician. He expressed himself vehemently on the subject of gays and gay marriage. Then he turned to me triumphantly and said, "Do you think the British Parliament would ever legalise gay marriage?"

His scornful tone made it clear that he expected a reply in the negative. But I had to point out that we had indeed legalised gay marriage. The technical name of the legislation was the Civil Partnerships Bill. But it is a gay marriage bill in all but name.

The idea of 'civil partnerships' was piloted by the mayor of London Ken Livingstone. He is a long-time political ally of mine. So I happen to know he is a devoted heterosexual who fathered two children in his late fifties. And he was nervous about the reception 'civil partnerships' would receive from the public and the press. But to everyone's surprise there was no critical comment, just a scattering of photographs featuring excited middle-aged men exchanging their vows.

Tony Blair and his government pay close attention to public opinion in general, and the right-wing press in particular. When they saw the absence of unfavourable comment on 'civil partnerships' they were emboldened to make them legal.

Why should something that is bitterly controversial in America, and unthinkable in Jamaica, have passed into law so smoothly in Britain? It is not that there is so much less anti-homosexual feeling in Britain than in Jamaica. Just this week a gay man was beaten to death on Clapham Common in London by a group of (white) men.

In fact, the highly-coloured rhetoric that Jamaicans routinely use about homosexuals does Jamaica a disservice. It makes it appear that Jamaicans are less tolerant than they are in practice. Last year Jamaicans actually got political asylum in Britain on the grounds that merely being homosexual in Jamaica put their lives at risk. And the British courts believed them.

The reason that homosexuality is legal in Britain (unlike in Jamaica) is that the British have long believed that what you do in the privacy of your own bedroom is your business.

There are probably as many people in Britain who disapprove of homosexuality as there are in Jamaica. They just do not think this is any business of the state. And on the question of gay marriage, the general view was that if the purpose of marriage is to encourage stable unions and protect property rights (which historically it was), then there is no reason why this system should not be extended to same-sex couples.

Jamaicans (and many Americans) will argue that this all points to the monstrous immorality of the British. In fact, there are some very strong moral underpinnings to British politics. People on both the left and right of politics believe that it would be fundamentally immoral for anyone to be refused urgent health care because they cannot pay.

Health care is free at the point of use in Britain, and has been for over 50 years. Any party which tried to introduce the US system of health care would be destroyed at the polls. Equally the British would think that it was completely immoral for little children to be deprived of an education because their parents cannot pay.

Perhaps the big difference between the British approach to morality in politics and the Jamaican and American approach is that in Britain we generally believe that the essence of morality is how we, as a society, treat our fellow human beings.

For the American religious right, and some in Jamaica, morality seems to consist of standing in judgement on others. I am not suggesting that Jamaica should introduce gay marriage. That is probably far in advance of where society is.

But the vehement anti-gay rhetoric common in Jamaica encourages gay men to lead double lives, thus spreading HIV infection, and it gives a poor image of Jamaica abroad. Gay-bashing lyrics give people in Britain an excuse to criticise some of Jamaica's most talented dance hall artists and to stop them performing.

Many people were astounded that George Bush Jr won the last US presidential elections. He has put millions out of work, presided over a ballooning budget deficit, ruthlessly enriched his corporate friends and dragged America into the disastrous Iraq war.

But tens of thousands of poor people, both black and white, voted for George Bush on the single issue of his anti-gay marriage stance. Perhaps it is time for a debate about what morality in politics really means.

Executive Class

Gardens with Gravel

Death to the Mullet!