HUNT'S FOR HUNTING
‘Squirming’ Jeremy Hunt backtracks from pledge to repeal fox hunting ban if he becomes PM
JEREMY HUNT desperately backtracked from a pledge to repeal the fox hunting ban – saying the law “isn’t going to change.”
Amid an outcry from Labour and his own followers, the Foreign Secretary’s aides insisted comments reported on Wednesday night had been taken out of context.
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Boris supporters accused him of another “flip flop” – with one joking: “They’re clearly starting to panic.”
Appearing to play to the Tory grassroots, Mr Hunt had told the Telegraph on Wednesday that he was happy to give the Commons a free vote on fox hunting if he became PM – saying it was part of the countryside’s “heritage”.
“Personally, I’m happy for people to do it,” he had said.
But the move sparked an immediate backlash from his supporters and a furious onslaught from Labour. A Tory MP in a marginal seat who voted for Mr Hunt to make the final two said it was “political suicide”.
Challenged by the BBC Mr Hunt insisted he had been simply been restating the Tory manifesto from 2017 – which vowed to offer a vote on fox hunting if there was a majority in favour in the House of Commons.
But he refused three times to say whether he agreed the practice was cruel.
He insisted: “The law is not going to change on fox hunting.
“There isn’t a majority in the House of Commons and I don’t see there ever being one. It wouldn’t be my priority as prime Minister.
“We’re going to have Brexit, we’ve the social care system … we’ve got economic priorities that are going to have to be addressed.”
Labour banned fox hunting in 2004 – with legislation permitting drag hunts where dogs are trained to follow an artificial scent instead.
Theresa May abandoned the idea of a vote on overturning a ban after her disastrous 2017 Election campaign – saying she had received a “clear message” on the doorstep.
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At the time the League Against Cruel Sports called for the Tories to go further by ruling out any move to overturn the ban in a future parliament.
Labour deputy leader Tom Watson said: “Fox hunting is not a way of life, it is not part of our heritage.
“It is the cruel, vicious killing of wild animals by dogs. Jeremy Hunt’s words serve as a timely reminder of the nastiness that runs deep in the Tory party.”
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