Relevant extracts regarding hunting from The Blair Years - 2007
“Tony Blair was still banging on about hunting. The Tories thought he was being very clever and cunning. In fact he was agonising because he did not feel comfortable about the position he was in. You could argue that we would never win the support of most of those who opposed our position, but that we would lose a stack of support if he tried to shift the position back. But he didn’t like doing things he didn’t instinctively feel were right. Anji (Hunter) was as ever whispering in his ear what all her right-wing friends were saying, and the whole thing was unsettling him. Peter Mandelson was pressing for us to go to Northern Ireland tomorrow. Maybe he wanted to miss the hunting vote too.”
Alastair Campbell
Tuesday 16th January 2001