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Tory leadership hopeful Jeremy Hunt has admitted he wants to bring back fox hunting.

In a desperate bid to appeal to Conservative grassroots, the Foreign Secretary voiced his support for the cruel sport which has been banned in England in Wales for nearly 15 years.

He said it was part of the countryside’s “heritage” and should be legalised.

But Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: "Labour proudly banned this barbaric practice. This Tory leadership race is going from bad to worse."

And Mr Hunt's surprise intervention will trigger dismay among Tory modernisers, who hoped he was the candidate to quell Boris Johnson's lurch to the right.

Sources stressed he would only seek to bring a free vote to the Commons – where MPs vote according to their consciences – if there was a majority in Westminster for such a view.

(Image: Getty Images) (Image: Getty Images)

Mr 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."

He confirmed a commitment to have a vote in Parliament would be in the next Tory manifesto, if he was PM.

(Image: Getty Images)

In reality, such a situation is highly unlikely, with the overwhelming majority of MPs fiercely opposed to a reintroduction of the bloodsport.

Mr Hunt today was forced to insist "the law is not going to change" on fox hunting and "it wouldn't be my priority as Prime Minister".

He said: "There isn’t a majority in the House of Commons and I don’t see there ever being one."

But he refused four times to give a straight answer when asked by BBC Radio 4's Today programme whether the practice is "cruel".

(Image: Getty Images)

Mr Hunt's vocal display of support for hounds ripping apart foxes risks derailing his No10 bid.

Theresa May's confession to the Mirror during the snap 2017 general election that she had always backed the rural past-time was widely blamed for fuelling her ballot box humiliation.

She said then: "As it happens, personally I have always been in favour of fox hunting and we maintain our commitment - we have had a commitment previously as a Conservative Party - to allow a free vote.

"And that's what it will allow, would allow, Parliament the opportunity to take a decision on this."

Polls consistently show around three-quarters or more of Britons are against bringing back the bloodsport.

(Image: Jake McPherson / SWNS)

Traditional hunts now follow a scent trail instead of a fox, or work around loopholes in the law.

Countryside campaigners repeatedly demand a shake-up, effectively repealing the 2004 Hunting Act.

Mrs May’s predecessor David Cameron also promised Parliament a vote on repeal but had to scrap it after the SNP vowed to block it, even though it does not apply to Scotland.

Chris Luffingham, League Against Cruel Sports director of campaigns, hit back at Mr Hunt's comments and suggested they could be damaging to 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.

“Nothing has changed.

“The vast majority of the British public will be horrified by any attempt to revert back to the barbaric activity of fox hunting.

(Image: Somerset Wildlife Crime /SWNS)

“The Hunting Act needs to be strengthened, not repealed, as the hunts are currently still getting away with chasing and killing British wildlife.

“Hunting needs to be consigned to the history books, and this decision shows quite how out of touch with public opinion Jeremy Hunt is.

“Fox hunting is a brutal nasty activity in which the hounds literally tear apart the foxes – this should have no place in a modern compassionate society.”

Labour Party Chairman Ian Lavery added: "This Tory leadership race is going from bad to worse.

“We’ve had Johnson’s tax cuts for the wealthy, a race to the bottom on no-deal Brexit , and now a pledge to bring back this barbaric practice that Labour had proudly banned."

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.

“Hunting with dogs is a cruel relic of the past.

“Britain has long moved on from finding animal abuse entertaining, and Jeremy Hunt is living in a cave if he hasn’t noticed this.”