Tory leadership candidate Jeremy Hunt has come under fire after declaring he would “vote to repeal the ban on fox hunting,” insisting it is part of British “heritage.”

In an interview with the Telegraph on Wednesday, Britain’s foreign secretary defended his backing for the return of fox hunting to the British countryside. Hunt insisted that once there is a majority in Parliament for a change in the law, he would “support a vote.”

“It is part of the countryside... and we have to recognise that in terms of the balance of the countryside. You know, it’s part of our heritage,” he claimed.

In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today program on Thursday morning, Hunt ostensibly tried to avoid the contentious topic, refusing to say whether he thought fox hunting was “cruel.” He also backtracked somewhat on the likelihood of a vote ever materializing

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Hunt’s admission is likely to go down badly with the wider British electorate, where, according to the polls, 85 percent of the public are against repealing the ban.

The foreign secretary, who is vying with Boris Johnson to become the next UK prime minister, has received a severe backlash on social media. Labour’s shadow justice secretary, Richard Burgon, hit out at Hunt, claiming the Tories are detached from reality for prioritizing a “barbaric ruling class blood sport.”

The last Labour government banned fox hunting.It's a sign of how detatched from reality the Tories are that they prioritise bringing back this barbaric ruling class blood sport.https://t.co/QYI5g4y0k4 — Richard Burgon MP (@RichardBurgon) July 4, 2019

Others online jokingly insisted that Hunt should also come out in support of the reintroduction of other traditions such as “cock-fighting, dog-fighting and bear-baiting.” Some asked how Hunt could be so out of touch with public opinion to believe that the road to Downing Street is lined with “the bodies of dead foxes.”

So @Jeremy_Hunt you want to bring back #foxhunting becuase it's part of our heritage. I trust you'll also support the reintroduction of other traditions such as cock-fighting, dog-fighting and bear-baiting. #keepthebanhttps://t.co/yhhBT9TmUH — Ed Franklin (@EJ_Franklin) July 4, 2019

In 2013, Hunt’s leadership rival Johnson joked while mayor of London that a way to deal with ‘urban’ foxes was to reintroduce hunting, saying “If people want to get together to form the fox hounds of Islington I’m all for it.” Johnson repeatedly voted against a ban in the early 2000s when he was MP for Henley. The UK officially banned fox hunting in 2005.

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