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A video showing hounds chasing a terrified fox cub today shames a hunt which has been supported by Tory MP Andrea Leadsom.

The high-powered Leader of the House of Commons has repeatedly appeared in the past with the Grafton Hunt – whose bloodthirsty dogs are seen pursuing the helpless animal.

Hunt members could now face a police investigation over the footage in which they appear to flout the bloodsports ban.

During the film taken last Saturday, riders of the hunt in Northamptonshire seemingly make no attempt to stop the pack as it pursues the exhausted cub.

Mrs Leadsom, MP for South Northamptonshire and a former Secretary of State for the Environment, openly supported the local hunt for many years.

(Image: REX/Shutterstock)

She has previously attended their annual ball and hunt meetings in her constituency.

In an online post – which she deleted before running against Theresa May for Tory Party leadership – she wrote: “Hunting is alive and well, and so it should be... The case for repealing The Act is, in my opinion, proven.”

But last night she declined to comment on whether she would publicly withdraw support for

the hunt.

She told the Sunday People: “I thoroughly condemn any illegal hunting activity.

“Any review of the Hunting Act should have animal welfare at its core.”

Philippa King of the League Against Cruel Sports condemned the harrowing footage. She said: “Cub hunting has been illegal since 2005 and for many is the most vile form of hunting.

(Image: Triangle News/Grafton Hunt Watch)

“It clearly shows a fox cub ­fleeing from a wood being pursued by a full pack of hounds.”

The footage – which has been handed to police by one of Mrs Leadsom’s angered constituents – appears to show a breach of Section 1 of the Hunting Act 2004.

Local constituent Judy Gilbert, 70, filmed it from a public road as riders crashed through the countryside.

Dogs can be heard howling and baying for blood.

Judy is a member of Grafton Hunt Watch, who film hunts to make sure they are complying with the Act, which bans the hunting of mammals with dogs in England and Wales.

Mrs Gilbert claimed the Grafton Hunt is still flouting the law and called on the Government to toughen the statute books to make prosecutions more likely.

In the past, Mrs Leadsom, 54, has frequently been photographed with the hunt party.

In one snap published on a local news website she is seen patting Huntsman Mick Wills’ horse and on two occasions tweeted that she was out watching them on Boxing Day.

Constituents claim she has also attended other meets, petting the hounds and supporting the annual Grafton Hunt Ball.

The same hunt was out last Saturday, with riders calling the dogs with the traditional hunting horn.

The footage – filmed on three cameras – shows the terrified fox cub dart from its cover.

The dogs get a whiff of it and are straight on its tail as it sprints across an open field.

None of the riders appear to call off the dogs as is required by law.

Campaigner Mrs Gilbert claimed that hunts are regularly getting around the law by using loopholes to evade prosecution.

Trail hunting – where a scent is laid before the dogs and riders go out – is not illegal.

But if hunters do not call their dogs off when they pick up the scent of a live mammal they are committing an offence. Mrs Gilbert claimed: “People still think they are above the law.

“There are too many loopholes. When we hand footage over, often the hunts will just say they are using eagles to hunt because that’s an exemption set out in the Hunting Act 2004.”

Mrs Gilbert added: “We are not saboteurs because we do not try and interfere or try and stop them.

“We stick to public highways and footpaths and just try to gather ­evidence to get them to court. I have a passion for wildlife and the unfairness of the whole thing upsets me. It’s just so cruel.”

She said anyone who believed ­hunting is not still happening in this country is naive, but police and the Crown Prosecution Service see it as low on their list of priorities.

It is not known what happened to the fox cub on Saturday but it was outnumbered 10 to one by the hounds.

(Image: Getty)

The Grafton Hunt has its kennels in Moreton Pinkney in South Northamptonshire but rides around the town of Towcester.

It was named after its founder, the Duke of Grafton and was in existence as early as 1735.

Mrs Leadsom, who challenged Mrs May for leadership following David Cameron’s resignation after the Brexit vote, has made no secret of her wish to bring back hunting, saying it would improve animal welfare. But fox ­hunting continues to be hugely unpopular, even among Conservative voters, with eight out of ten people saying they do not want to see it brought back.

Elisa Allen, director of animal ­charity PETA, said: “The chase is terrifying, and foxes have been known to rupture internal organs fleeing for their lives.

“Then come the moments in which the petrified and exhausted animals are surrounded and torn apart by the dogs. This behaviour has no place in modern Britain.”

A Grafton Hunt spokesman said: “The Grafton Hunt operates legally while conducting trail-hunting and other exempt hunting activities within the confines of the Hunting Act 2004.”

Northamptonshire Police confirmed the incident had been referred to its Rural Crime Unit for investigation.

VOICE OF THE SUNDAY PEOPLE

Fox-hunting is an issue that has always divided opinion in the UK.

On one hand, the countryside lobby puts up arguments about the need to control the fox population.

And they argue that the traditional hunts have been a part of rural life for hundreds of years. But the majority of people believe hunting foxes with hounds is cruel and unneccesary.

The 2005 ban on hunting has been tested many times since then. Police are investigating the latest allegation that the ban has been breached.

Footage has been passed to them of the Grafton Hunt allow dogs to chase a fox cub. This is the local hunt of top Tory Andrea Leadsom.

Although she has been a keen supporter of the hunt in the past, Mrs Leadsom has now condemned any illegal hunting activity.

But she refuses to publicly withdraw her support for the Grafton.

Is it any surprise she is staying loyal to an outdated and cruel ­institution like this?

After all, she is in the Tory party.