SO the British Field Sports Society's boast that 'more than a million' postcards have been sent by bloodsports supporters to Labour leader Tony Blair, in an effort to persuade him not to ban hunting, turns out to be as false as most other pro-hunting propaganda.

Labour has revealed that only 43,020 postcards have been received, half with no sender address and a quarter arriving unstamped in cardboard boxes and packages.

It would appear then, that the 10-week tour of Britain by the BFSS chief executive in an effort to rally the hunting fraternity at 24 public meetings and the distribution of millions of postcards throughout the so-called 'country sports' community has been a complete disaster. That is particularly so when compared to the revelation by the House of Commons post office in 1995 that MPs had been bombarded with half a million postcards and letters in support of a ban on hunting.

The British Field Sports Society predicted that Labour's anti-hunt proposals would arouse the 'sleeping giant' of the hunting set. The 'sleeping giant' turns out to be as ferocious as a 'dozy dormouse!'

JOHN BRYANT, Chief Officer, League Against Cruel Sports, Working for Wildlife, Sparling House, 83-87 Union Street, London. SE1 1SG.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.