Why the Tories have to talk about fox hunting

At what point did the Conservatives’ 2017 campaign start to go off the rails? A lot of Conservative MPs point to the manifesto launch and the creation of the so-called dementia tax. However, many view comments Theresa May made during a stump speech on fox hunting as just as damaging. The then prime minister said she had ‘always supported fox hunting’ and vowed to give parliament a free vote on the issue. This was quickly weaponised by Labour and the story spread online. May’s proposal to reintroduce fox hunting with a free vote was the single most viral topic of the election.

Since then, the Tories have had an unwritten rule: don’t talk about fox-hunting. During the leadership election, Jeremy Hunt suggested he would back a free vote – only to then perform a hasty U-turn saying: ‘This is not something I will seek to change as prime minister’. Meanwhile, Boris Johnson point blank refused to talk about it when questioned.