Foreign Secretary and Tory leadership hopeful Jeremy Hunt has admitted he wants to legalise fox hunting in a reported desperate bid to appeal to grassroots Conservatives.
Hunt said it was part of the UK countryside’s “heritage” and should be brought back.
Hunt told the Telegraph:
“I don't hunt myself, it's not particularly my thing.”
“I think we have to recognise it's part of the countryside and I think we have to recognise that, in terms of the balance of the countryside, it's part of our heritage."
“So personally I'm happy for people to do it."
Later on 4 July Hunt insisted "the law is not going to change" on fox hunting and "it wouldn't be my priority as Prime Minister", as he refused four times to say if he believed fox hunting was "cruel" after repeatedly asked so by BBC Radio 4's Today programme host.
Hunt said: "My view is a matter of public record."
Many were swift to condemn Hunt’s statement on the gentleman's sport.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn tweeted:
"Labour proudly banned this barbaric practice. This Tory leadership race is going from bad to worse."
Chris Luffingham, director of campaigns of the League Against Cruel Sports, suggested Hunt’s remarks could scupper his chances in a general election.
“The last time a politician said we should bring back hunting - Theresa May in the 2017 General Election – they were punished in the polling booths," he said.
Theresa May's confession to the Mirror during the snap 2017 general election that she backed the rural past-time was widely blamed for her ballot box defeat.
“The vast majority of the British public will be horrified by any attempt to revert back to the barbaric activity of fox hunting,” said Luffingham.
Animal Equality executive director Toni Vernelli said:
“Jeremy Hunt has a very short memory – It was this same pledge that lost Theresa May the youth vote at the last election.”
“Britain has long moved on from finding animal abuse entertaining, and Jeremy Hunt is living in a cave if he hasn’t noticed this.”
Social media users also took to twitter to voice their views on fox hunting.
Fox hunting has been banned in England in Wales for nearly 15 years, with polls consistently showing that around three-quarters or more of Britons are against the bloodsport being brought back.
Currently, hunts follow a scent trail instead of a live fox, or find loopholes in the law.
The two remaining Tory leadership rivals Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt have been busy on the last leg of the campaign trail, making fresh pledges before voting opens to Tory members.
The two go head-to-head on 4 July in the latest hustings event in Yorkshire and Humber.
Boris Johnson is the presumed frontrunner to replace Theresa May.
In the fifth and final round, Johnson won 162 votes to Hunt’s 77.
Tory members will be receiving postal ballots between 6-8 July with voting closing on 22 July. The winner is expected to be announced the next day.