SECRET TORY PLOT TO BRING BACK FOX HUNTING
Peer says election majority of 50 or more is enough to reverse ban
TORIES are plotting to bring back fox hunting if the party wins an election landslide.
Lord Mancroft wants enthusiasts to campaign for pro-hunt candidates in marginal seats.
He said: “A majority of 50 or more gives us a real opportunity.”
FOX hunters see a Tory election landslide as their opportunity to bring back the barbaric blood sport.
A Tory peer has emailed hunt masters urging them to “mobilise supporters” and campaign for prohunting candidates in marginal seats. Lord Mancroft, chairman of the Council of Hunting Associations, wrote: “This is the chance we have been waiting for. A majority of 50 or more would give us a real opportunity for repeal of the Hunting Act. This is by far the best opportunity we have had since the ban, and is probably the best we are likely to get in the foreseeable future.”
Labour said the leaked email laid bare the consequences for Britain if Mrs May secures a landslide victory on June 8.
Animal rights campaigner Angela Smith, Labour’s candidate in Penistone and Stocksbridge, South Yorks, added: “This is exactly why we must not give the Tories a blank cheque.
“If Theresa May wins a big majority we will see all the worst excesses of an unre-
If Theresa May wins a big majority we will see the worst Tory excesses ANGELA SMITH ANTI-HUNTING LABOUR ELECTION CANDIDATE
strained Tory Government. Bringing back fox hunting, one of the cruellest blood sports imaginable, will be just the start.”
Hunting with dogs was banned under the Hunting Act 2004. In the email, sent at the end of April, Lord Mancroft claimed he had received private reassurances that Mrs May will give a manifesto pledge to hold a free vote on repealing the act.
The same manifesto pledge was given by David Cameron in 2010 and 2015 – but the votes were never actually held.
Mr Cameron, himself a fox-hunting devotee, never held a large enough majority to be sure of success. A small group of liberal-leaning Tory MPs are opposed to bringing back the sport.
But opinion polls suggest Mrs May is set for a landslide victory– raising the prospect of there being enough hardliners in Parliament to reverse the ban.
Mrs May voted against the hunting ban while in opposition in 2002 – and told the BBC in 2009 she backed a free vote to abolish it. A No10 spokesman said in a statement: “The Conservative party will set out its manifesto in due course.”
A repeal of the ban is also likely to be supported by Prince Charles, who has taken part in hunts with Lord Mancroft. He once said: “If the Labour government ever gets around to banning fox hunting, I might as well leave this country and spend the rest of my life skiing.”
Lord Mancroft’s email urged hunt masters to do their bit by contacting Vote OK, a group that co-ordinates efforts to reverse the hunting ban.
He concludes: “Every hunt should assume it will be needed to assist with political work, and start making arrangements to mobilise supporters now.
“We have six weeks to show, yet again, what we are made of, and our undying commitment to our way of life.” Hereditary peer Lord Mancroft, 59, is a former joint master of the Vale of the White Horse Hunt in Gloucestershire. He was unavailable for comment last night but a source said he “stands by his email”.
The pro-hunting Countryside Alliance added: “As they always have done, hunts will continue to make the case for hunting and take action through the ballot box.”
Chicken Theresa May yesterday continued to snub calls to take part in TV election debates after the BBC announced a live studio showdown on May 31.
RESTORING fox hunting would be just the beginning if blood sports fan Theresa May cons us into giving the Tories a Parliamentary landslide that lets her do what she wants.
The private email from a Tory hereditary peer hailing “the chance we have been waiting for” is a warning to decent people in every seat in the country that a big majority on June 8 would result in the clock being rewound.
Hunters are salivating at the prospect of the Prime Minister restoring their legal right to set frenzied hounds on terrified wild animals, tearing them to pieces to satisfy their masters’ perverted enjoyment of suffering.
The only sure way to sabotage Lord Mancroft and his pals is to deny May the thumping majority of MPs that would risk the revival of such barbaric slaughter in England and Wales. We are right to fear a pack of braying Tories.