Blair seeks to ditch hunt pledge?
23 February 2001
Blair seeks to ditch hunt pledge?
By FWi staff
TONY Blair is fighting to drop a commitment to ban fox-hunting from the next Labour manifesto, reports the Daily Mail.
The newspaper says the Prime Minister has told colleagues that he is determined to ditch the issue because it is too divisive for the countryside.
It says this mirrors growing concern among ministers about the Countryside March planned for the capital on March 18.
They fear the march, which could attract upward of 300,000 protesters, would damage the Government weeks before a possible general election on May 3.
In the same newspaper author Frederick Forsyth says he has never seen relations between the Government and the rural population so utterly poisoned.
- Archers to join Countryside March?, FWi, 21 February 2001
- Daily Mail 23 February 2001 page 12 and 15
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