Jeremy Hunt has shot himself in the foot with his fox-hunting pledge

I moaned here last week about the lack of attention the two Tory leadership contenders were paying to rural communities in their pitches to the party membership. Funnily enough, as Jeremy Hunt and Boris Johnson have travelled around the country to various party hustings, their tone has now changed. Finally, they are speaking up for people outside towns and cities.

Both of them have promised to speed up the delivery of full-fibre broadband to the countryside. They have also vowed to get the UK out of the Common Agricultural Policy, giving us control over our own agriculture policies. Hunt has sworn to place rural society at the heart of his government, and he has also promised ‘never (to) introduce any undue restrictions on gun ownership or the list of wild animals it is lawful to shoot’. Boris Johnson meanwhile has said he will make sure rural schools receive more funding, rural post offices will be supported and the number of police officers in rural areas will be increased.