Trophy hunters such as Sabrina Corgatelli say the practice benefits conservation

Boris Johnson is guilty of hypocrisy for pledging to ban the import of hunting trophies because he was a “shooting man in the past”, the head of a hunting organisation has claimed.

Steve Jones, the UK president of Safari Club International, said that the prime minister had been on hunts himself and pointed to a photograph from 1999 of him holding a brace of pheasants.

“It’s hypocritical to have enjoyed shooting yourself but then put restrictions on other people doing it,” Mr Jones, 65, said.

He also accused Mr Johnson of trying to appease his girlfriend, Carrie Symonds, who has called trophy hunting “sick”, and insisted that the move overlooked the conservation benefits from hunters’ money.

Mr Jones was responding to calls from