HE’S BACK - THE FANTASTIC MR FOX

With the contest underway to become the next Prime Minister, will candidates reflect the views of the country at large on fox hunting?

Just how fantastic you think Mr or Mrs Fox is depends as much on your politics as it does your views on animals. Historically, this was broadly aligned with Blue or Red. Now it is more likely to be cruel or kind, ancient or modern.

Like it or not hunting with dogs, as captured in the icon of the fox, remains an enduring fault line in British politics.

Mrs May discovered this to her cost in the general election of 2017, pledging to introduce a free vote on the Hunting Act 2004. The then-Conservative party chairman (and now a candidate as Prime Minister himself) Grant Shapps described it as “absolute insanity” and a humiliating U-turn promptly followed. The implication was that the issue helped lose Mrs May a majority government.

In the leadership contest of 2019, the aptly named Jeremy Hunt stated similar in his bid to be leader. After his own MPs rounded on him, he also U-turned. But the damage was done and he was beaten by Boris Johnson.

In the Conservative Party election manifesto that followed, Mr Johnson had the foresight to pledge that he would not repeal the Hunting Act. Whether or not the fox was personally fantastic to him or not, he took a view on this and other thorny issues and secured a landslide. Perhaps uncharacteristically, he stuck to his pledge.

At the time of writing there are eight candidates fighting it out for the top job, with the bookies’ odds favouring those five that have in the past openly declared they are pro-repeal. But how about now?

It’s not as if the public are split down the middle on hunting, with polling revealing that nearly nine out of 10 are against, be they town or country folk. Our brave wannabees are keen to tell us their courage and they are keen to share their views on other issues that spilt opinion or make or break elections.

So come on, show us what you’re made of. Are you prorepeal or not? Regardless of what it is, a Prime Minster should have a view on everything.

Andy Knott, MBE,

Chief executive officer, League Against Cruel Sports

League Against Cruel Sports is a registered charity in England and Wales (no. 1095234) and Scotland (mo. SCO45533)