Abstract
In the second term of the New Labour Government, the issue of fox hunting occupied 700 hours of parliamentary time and received extensive press attention. This article shows that the hunting case reveals a different pattern than that found for voting on other conscience issues in the UK parliament, with party an almost perfect predictor of voting in the two main parties. In examining this outcome, we focus on way in which the issue played in both the main political parties during the passage of the Hunting Bill. In the Labour party, the strength of backbench support for the Bill overwhelmed the ambivalence of the frontbench. In contrast, the Conservative Party became more united as a response to the increased politicisation of the issue by Labour backbenchers and increased extra-parliamentary political activity by the Countryside Alliance.
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Notes
Here, we focused on the Times, the Guardian and the Daily Telegraph, over the period from the Liberty and Livelihood March until the passage of the Bill.
The MPs were chosen because they were very active on the issue, in particular in the parliamentary debates, and, thus, had a detailed knowledge of the way in which the issue played inside the parliamentary parties. These interviews were supplemented with quotes in the press from these and other MPs heavily involved in the issue.
Obviously, no two votes are totally the same as the bills differ. However, we have chosen the Second Reading votes, which are votes on the principle of the bills.
It is worth noting, however, that we argue elsewhere (Plumb and Marsh, 2011) that Cowley and Stuart may overestimate the increased unity in the Conservative Party on conscience issues and so explaining the remaining intra-party difference remains important.
It also featured in the Liberal Democrats Manifestos of 1997 (and 2001).
Cowley and Stuart (2005, p. 267) emphasise how isolated the Prime Minister became: ‘We cannot find an occasion in the post-war period when any Prime Minister has been so detached from the parliamentary party’.
See, for example, Barry Sheerman, Labour MP for Huddersfield, in Pike (2004); Kate Hoey, Labour MP for Vauxhall, in Bowcott, O. and Meilke, J. (2006); and Dennis Skinner, Labour MP for Bolsover, who said at the Labour Party Conference in September 2004: ‘This has nothing to do with animal welfare – this is for the miners’ (All-Party Parliamentary Middle Way Group, 2012).
The Final Report of the Committee of Inquiry into Hunting with Dogs in England and Wales, her Majesty's Stationery Office, 9 June 2000.
We cannot put a figure to this because Vote OK did, and do, not provide a list of the MPs they attempted to unseat.
The Labour Party (2010, p. 8:5), A Future Fair For All declares: ‘We have banned foxhunting and animal testing for cosmetics and tobacco, and we will bring forward further animal welfare measures’.
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Plumb, A., Marsh, D. Beyond party discipline: UK Parliamentary voting on fox hunting. Br Polit 8, 313–332 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1057/bp.2013.2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/bp.2013.2