Brody's Notes... Controversial British Government Minister Set to Marry In Parliament

MP Chris Bryant Speaking In The House Of Commons       
Photo By Telegraph.co.uk

By Brody Levesque (Washington DC) Nov 3 | The British Minister for Europe, Chris Bryant, MP for Rhondda, south Wales, has stated that he wants his marriage ceremony in the House of Commons next March. Having the ceremony performed in the heart of the Houses of Parliament would be seen as a symbolic victory for gay rights campaigners in Britain.

Despite the historic nature of the 'wedding', Byrant, a former Church of England chaplain said he was "just happy to be getting married" after becoming engaged to his partner, Jared Cranney. 

"Jared and I are engaged and we hope to have a civil partnership – or a marriage is what it feels like – in March of next year," he said. "We'd like to do it in Parliament if possible."

The MP met Jared, a company secretary, while out on the campaign trial in Soho in April last year, with London's former mayor, Ken Livingstone. The pair will now be working with the Commons Speaker, John Bercow, to finalise the details of the ceremony.

An article published yesterday by the Independent UK Newspaper stated that all MPs, peers and their families have long been able to get married in the 14th-century chapel within the parliamentary grounds. However, like all religious venues across Britain, it cannot be used for civil partnerships, meaning that another venue has had to be found for Mr Bryant's ceremony to take place. As part of his bid to modernise the workings of Parliament, the Speaker has been battling behind the scenes to allow the ceremony to take place within the finery of Speaker's House, his official riverside residence in the Palace of Westminster.

The Speaker's spokeman said:

"The Speaker is very keen on the idea of holding civil partnership ceremonies at Westminster and he would be very happy for the Speaker's house to be used. There are however a number of legal and practical problems that we are looking into."

Openly Gay, Bryant has had his share of high profile incidents over the past few years, the most recent this past May over a series of claims against allowances for improvements to his homes in his constituency & London. [Telegraph Article Here] Prior to that, a photograph of the Minister wearing only underwear briefs in a photo sent in to a Gay dating website, which was widely published in British newspapers, also raised a storm of publicity.