In a televised countrysports debate at Harper Adams, Joint Master of the South Shropshire and foxhunting freedom fighter Otis Ferry describes what it’s like to break into the Chamber of the House of Commons – what he felt at the time and how he surprised he was at public reaction. 

Ferry makes his declaration on Shooting Politics, the half-hour countrysports debate programme from webtv channel Fieldsports Channel, available to view online from 7pm, Wednesday 14 October 2009. 

Ferry defends direct action. He says everyone involved in fieldsports should get involved in political activism in the run-up to the next general election. “What the hunting fraternity is doing is identifying the candidates in marginal seats,” he says. “The hunting community has set up an organisation called Vote OK. They select the PPCs and if they have a sympathy to fieldsports we offer them our backing.”

Ferry, a joint master of the South Shropshire Hunt, pins his hopes on the Conservatives. “I think repeal will be granted only if there is a strong enough majority of Conservatives,” he says.

However, another panellist, Liam Bell of the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation does not believe that the Tories will repeal the foxhunting ban. 

Ferry does not believe that the Masters of Foxhounds Association will have a role in any future post-repeal hunting regulatory authority. “By offering to have this authority regulating us, it shows we have nothing to hide,” he says.