‘Putting animals into politics’: the parties, electoral geography and changes in the countryside

During the twentieth century, attempts to abolish hunting were largely a matter of either extra-parliamentary activity or private members’ bills. It was not until 1997 that a proposal to ban hunting was included in a programme of government legislation, albeit as one to be settled by a free vote. In 1970 Harold Wilson had broken the convention of government impartiality by seeking to give government backing to a Deer Hunting and Hare Coursing Bill, which unusually received a second reading before Parliament was dissolved and the bill failed.1 Before this date, whether to ban hunting was regarded by governments of all parties as a question to be left to the individual consciences of MPs.