There has been much talk in the blogosphere about a certain election leaflet used by the Simon Hughes campaign team in the 1983 Bermondsey by-election. Iain Dale gives the typical anti-Hughes slant, particularly highlighting the used of the term "a straight choice". The implication is that this was a coded message attacking Hughes' then-opponent, well-known gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, the Labour candidate. It was not Hughes himself being described as "the straight choice" - that really would be homophobic. Iain Sharpe goes into more depth on the history of the Bermondsey by-election.

This is nonsense. The phrase "straight choice" simply makes it clear that there are only two candidates who can win. This is a sensible thing for parties to say, because it increases their chance of attracting tactical voters who will only vote for a candidate who has a chance of winning. And, indeed, the Liberal Democrats used the same phrase in several other by-elections without ever attracting a suggestion of homophobia.

If we accept that "straight choice" is unacceptably homophobic, must the entire Scottish Labour party be branded as homophobes? Was Michael Howard being homophobic when he described the 2004 Leicester South by-election as a "straight fight"? Of course not.

I don't dispute that the Bermondsey by-election was a bitter campaign. But to accuse Simon Hughes of homophobia using that leaflet as the basis of your accusation is ridiculous. It is time to, if I can be permitted the pun, set the record straight about this.