Tally-Ho As Blue Foxes Return To Parliament

James Mills discusses the new breed of Tory MPs who call themselves the “Blue Foxes”.

http://www.iaindale.com/posts/tally-ho-as-blue-foxes-return-to-parliament Please read the full article on this link.

End of article

Another blogger writes about us- called-  “Fantastic Blue Fox!”

http://thecountuk.blogspot.com/2011/08/fantastic-blue-fox.html

 New article; Conservatives Against Fox Hunting aka Blue Fox, have been written about in two articles by the League Against Cruel Sports on the 15th August and the 1st September 2011.

Written by Joshua ,Public Affairs Officer for the League Against Cruel Sports) on 01 September, 2011 : 12:22
‘You may have seen I wrote a blog last week praising the work of the campaign group Conservatives Against Fox Hunting (aka ‘Blue Fox’) who have had tremendous success in making Conservative MPs aware of the strength of support for the Hunting Act not only within the British public but also Conservative Party supporters.

My piece came after a number of articles in newspapers, including the Daily Mail, highlighting their work and the support of MPs such as Caroline Dinenage and Esther McVey. Shortly after this, the Countryside Alliance released a statement which smacked of desperation, stating: “This story should not spark any concern; it is not the first such story and is unlikely to be the last”. They are spot on in one sense; this will not be the last story as the numbers of MPs who support the Hunting Act, including those from the Conservative Party, are steadily increasing.

This increase is due to a range of factors, not only the work of Blue Fox, but also an increasing number of convictions under the Act and a general realisation that although it may be a tradition; it can still continue now just without the needless pursuit and horrific death of a terrified animal (not only fox, but also stags, hares and many others). There is absolutely no justification for legalising the activity of hunting; legitimate pest control can still be carried out under the current legislation and it is not against civil liberties as even John Stewart Mill decided that there is as much need to protect animals through law as there is for children. All these arguments are explained in much more detail in our extensive report “Hunting with Dogs: Past, Present but No Future”.

The other regular fallacy purported by the hunting fraternity is that there have been only a handful of convictions against registered hunts under the Hunting Act. Even if hard pressed they would say that the other convictions (over 150) are simply poaching offences and therefore don’t apply to them. Well the fact is, this legislation makes it illegal for anybody to use traditional hunting methods to kill a wild animal for sport, it doesn’t matter what they wear, how many of them take part, what their social, political or economic status’ are; if they want to take part in that activity they are breaking the law.

The Countryside Alliance’s statement also tries to reassure the hunting community that they are working hard to force a repeal of the Hunting Act: “The Countryside Alliance’s political team continues to work hard behind the scenes to put the case for repeal, which is compelling”. What is particularly telling from this statement is that they are working ‘behind the scenes’. They clearly have so little confidence not only in their campaign but also in their arguments that they are not willing to have an open and honest discussion about it. Last year an MP close to the campaign stated that they were targeting MPs whose opinions could potentially be changed by being “wined and dined”.

What, I wonder, do the Countryside Alliance and the hunting lobby have to hide that they are not willing to engage in open debate with us and the rest of the public about why they want to legalise the cruelty of hunting? Their tactics have got so desperate that they have to resort to buying expensive meals and drinks just to get them to sit down at a table. As you can clearly see on our blog, website and through many other means, we are more than happy to have this debate with the other side. We also have the support of the majority of MPs, with the vast majority of both Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs supporting the Act. Of course, the CA will not freely admit this as they cling on in desperation to their claims that their views are supported by many politicians.

As Blue Fox are courageously proving, even the one party that traditionally supported their aims is gradually abandoning their outdated view that hunting wild animals for sport is acceptable in the 21st century.’

http://www.league.org.uk/blogs_entry.aspx?id=610 original article on this link.

Written by Joshua on 15 August, 2011 : 13:17

‘Yesterday’s Daily Mail ran a piece entitled ‘Fox hunting vote “killed off” by new generation of young urban Tory women opposed to bloodsports’ which went a good way to demonstrating the growing voice the ‘Blue Fox’ group has within Parliament.

For a long time it has been seen by many that the Conservative Party have supported hunting but this simplistic view is rapidly changing. If you asked people only a couple of years ago about Conservative MPs opposing bloodsports you would probably have heard names such as Ann Widdecombe, Roger Gale or David Amess, but now the list is much more exhaustive.

Opposing hunting and other bloodsports no longer requires maverick politicians who are unafraid of their party and the repercussions of their actions; there is a vocal group within Parliament that has been demonstrating that you can be a Conservative Party member, indeed a politician, and oppose cruelty to animals in the name of sport.

This apparent transformation has not happened overnight; it has been coming for some time but it owes a great deal to the grass roots group Conservatives Against Fox Hunting aka ‘Blue Fox’. Blue Fox have been working tirelessly to provide Conservative MPs with the confidence from which to stand up and represent not only the vast majority of the public who oppose repealing the Hunting Act, but what is also forgotten, that the vast majority of Conservative voters and supporters also oppose repeal.

The tag line “Don’t run with the pack” is used to great effect by Blue Fox in highlighting that perhaps it appears all too easy for Conservative MPs to assume their party supports hunting and therefore they should continue this path. Fortunately the new influx of Conservative MPs has taken this onboard and has listened to what the public and their own constituents think on this issue and not historical records. There are indeed a group of over twenty Conservative MPs (and rising) who have declared their support for the Hunting Act, but what perhaps is not so well documented is that another group of MPs who previously supported hunting are now wavering. This is due to an increasing number of convictions under the Hunting Act, a clear public message not to mention every single argument for repeal falling down under scrutiny (James’ blog last week demonstrated this perfectly)

If you are not sure what your MP thinks about the Hunting Act, then just email them here to find out; but do not be surprised if your Conservative MP agrees with you that the Hunting Act is here to stay.’