Adoption bill 'hijacked'

The Conservative MP voted with his party's three-line whip in Monday's Adoption Bill. However, Mr Hendry said that Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith's instruction to MPs to oppose the Bill did not mean the party was anti-gay.

He said: 'It was a very finely balanced issue with both sides arguing their case. But what was bizarre was that the whole issue was really about whether one or two names are on the adoption certificate.

'At the moment, people who are not married can adopt but only one name can go on the adoption certificate. It is the same for gay couples they already can adopt.

'It was never a gay issue but it was treated as such and it finally became a leadership issue. It was blown out of all proportion. The whole thing had become hijacked and in the end we were not able to have a sensible debate.'

Mr Hendry said he believed that, ideally, children should be brought up within a married environment but added that he was not against unmarried or gay couples adopting.

'I think most people agree that it's preferable for people to be brought up in within a married environment,' he said.