The Tories must now hound out the hunting issue

Amid the flurry of excitement that accompanied the budget, yesterday, the announcement by the government of a free vote on changes to the hunting laws got little attention.

This is, perhaps, because people wearily remember 10 years back to the weeks and weeks of parliamentary time this took up. It even resulted in the invocation of the Parliament Act, so controversial it proved.
Then, as now, many bemoaned the extraordinary degree of prioritisation it was given, though rest assured, a Guardian columnist today wrote that this change will be debated for 90 minutes, not 700 hours. What a relief.

What is being proposed is not a full-scale repeal of the ban. Rather, it is an instrument to bring the legislation for England and Wales in to line with Scotland (and you can be sure the SNP will be voting on it, which in itself makes this an interesting political test case).

It removes the restriction to flush out a fox with only a pair of dogs, allowing a full pack to be involved. Whilst the fox still has to be shot, this goes a very long way to re-introducing hunting by the back door, stopping short of the Tory manifesto commitment to repeal the 2005 act for pragmatic reasons.

Our cynical Guardian columnist believes, with some justification, that the government cynically welcomes the opportunity for the SNP to be heavily involved in the defeat of something not applicable to Scotland. It is, indeed, a very distinct possibility that I hadn’t really thought about, so well done, Stephen Moss.

In reality, it could only be defeated if Tories use their free vote to oppose, as sports minister Tracey Crouch, for one, is likely to do. We all know, however, that whatever the actual complexities and numbers behind any defeat, a near-exclusive focus on part of the story in the event of defeat will be politically powerful in convincing any fence-sitters on so-called English votes for English issues.

However intriguing a political prospect this might be, however, I am in no doubt that this is no childish trap for the SNP but is a proposal that takes the government a long way towards one of its stated manifesto commitments. At the very least, it’s a compromise that is, it hopes, not a step too far for those Tories who are anti-hunting. It has taken a risk in making it a free vote, but one it hopes will pay off.

I sincerely hope it does not. There is a real opportunity here for sensibly-minded Tories to kill this issue decisively. If the government, possessing only a slim majority, doesn’t get its way, it will be hard for the party to justify a full repeal in its next party manifesto, or try and take it further in this parliament if it can.

Hunting does not enjoy popular public support. Though erroneous, it is nonetheless popularly lampooned as the pursuit of upper class twits and Etonians like David Cameron and George Osborne.

Apparently, it is supported by most Tories. Outside of Westminster, I can’t say I’ve ever met a grassroots member who’s been particularly vocal about this either way.

I’ve noticed that myth and legend can create unspoken conventions in the Tory party. I would think other parties have the same phenomenon on different issues. It’s assumed most will be professed royalists. It’s assumed most will be Anglican, hence James Arbuthnot MP waited many, many years, before declaring his Atheism in January 2015. When he came out, he described a pressure to keep quiet, which he compared to that which used to exist over being gay.

Since I have never heard a Tory MP passionately defend hunting, I cannot help wondering if a similar convention is at work here, with a few notable exceptions speaking out against hunting, but acquiescence for the most part, which is interpreted as support.

I may, of course, be proved very wrong. Perhaps the spectacle of watching a pack of animals cruelly chase and torture a fox before it is either shot, or ripped to pieces, really is how lots of them want to spend their time.

Perhaps they are mad enough to believe that it’s what most party members would like to do. Perhaps they will take the view that, whilst it’s not their cup of tea, it is a cultural tradition and part of our history. I would simply point to bullfighting in Catalonia to remind them that things can change where a so-called cultural pursuit does not enjoy popular support.

I can only say that, if I’m wrong, I’ll be one disappointed Tory.
I do not like foxes. They are dirty, an urban menace and increasingly unafraid to come near humans. If you have ever been awakened by their mating, you will know why I dislike them. The first time I heard the screams, I honestly thought a massacre was taking place outside my window. It regularly sent my poor bullmastiff Simba in to a frenzy, and, being the middle of the night and him being there and the fox outside, you can guess who got the ticking off.

As inherently sensible as it is to humanely shoot foxes and get expert pest controllers to do the work, the urban dweller would also benefit from a good piece of legislation that would repeal the assumed ban on hunting and shooting the idiots who feed them and make the problem worse. Give Joanna Lumley plenty of opportunities to repent of her fox-loving ways though, because she does nice things for Gurkhas and makes interesting documentaries.

In all seriousness, though, looking at educating people to the problem of increasingly tame foxes and their rising risk to the public, would be much needed. Whilst this issue really shouldn’t be taking up any more of Parliament’s time, if we must have a conversation about foxes, this should be it.

Of course, hunting is more a countryside pursuit, and its supporters are keen to emphasise that. Nonetheless, the point remains that the issue is once again occupying far too much time for law makers, and that, largely, is because of one party’s –my party’s– shameful support of something most people don’t want, don’t like, and don’t think is important.
Make no mistake, the government is accused of trying to re-introduce hunting by stealth, but stealth means subtlety. There is no such subtlety here, so let’s hope a decent number of Tories find a voice to speak out against something that’s cruel, uncivilised and unacceptable.