Fox hunting. Say the words and in to most people’s minds will flood images of ruddy cheeked gents sipping from tankards outside the picture-postcard village pub, struggling to keep their hunter from stomping on the weary looking landlord with a tray. Camilla-style woman with horsey laughs; the scarlet coats, whips, the yelp of the horn, the yip of the hounds, the bray of posh voices.
Typical Tory country, isn’t it? Down the years fox hunting has become synonymous with the Conservative Party. It is a traditional British sport, a part of our history, so the Tory voter must support it, surely?
Well, no, apparently not. According to an Ipsos/Mori poll for the League Against Cruel Sports support for a lifting of the 2005 ban is low in the true blue party. The Tory faithful is now too busy hugging hoodies to spend their Sunday afternoons on blood-sports, perhaps? Or maybe the hunters have gone over to UKIP, forgetting that the British Parliament brought in the ban on their beloved sport?
Perhaps even more surprising than this lack of interest, however, is the news that the same poll suggests that a mere 22% of people in rural areas want to see a return of full fox hunting. I see ‘Keep Your Bulsh*t in Westminster’ signs in car windows on a daily basis here in North Devon, so I greet this news with some trepidation. I hate to listen to the Countryside Alliances South West regional director Alison Hawes when she says the phrasing of the poll’s questions may have slanted the result, but can it be that in the rural constituencies we no longer heed the call of the hunting horn?
Mr Cameron and the now all-is-forgiven figure of William Hague have already made noises about repealing the ban if (when) they are elected, saying it is a ‘bad law’, various other posh city-bound MPs such as Ann Widdecombe support a repeal, too. But perhaps here in the countryside, in the South West, the voters are true radicals? They do not merely want to return to the past for the sake of it, clinging to Olde England however cruel its favourite pursuits might be, but instead accept that the world does and will change and that one of the better changes has been to stop this vicious sport dead in its tracks.
posted by Jess Sains
Read Poll Says No Support to Repeal Hunting Ban on the Devon Week
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The Tories have promised a free vote on reintroducing hunting, but haven’t given a timescale. Any legalisation will take time away from other Conservative priorities, and whoever wins the next election will face real resistance to inevitable public spending cuts
Even if there is a big Tory majority, will they want to further expose themselves as the Nasty Party?
The Countryside Alliance and their supporters are being a bit too trusting here and are being given slippery promises to keep them on board. Hunting isn’t a big issue for most people and the countryside is rapidly changing, so the CA may well be disappointed in their demands for a quick change in the law.
The new batch of Tory MPs will be from urban areas and don’t closely identify with the old rural aristocracy. They will also be sensitive about alienating their constituents, many of which – as the survey states – are anti-hunting.
More likely is that the new Government will instruct the Police not to prosecute and so allow a quiet resumption of hunting.