THE
RICH AT PLAY
THE COUNTRYSIDE
ALLIANCE
– VOICE OF THE RURAL DISPOSSESSED?!
The Countryside Alliance
hadn’t even been formally established when it held a 50,000 strong demonstration
in central London in July 1997. [1] What united the groups involved in organising
the march was their opposition to an anticipated ban on hunting with dogs under
the then New Labour government of Tony Blair. As Labour peer Baroness Mallalieu
QC said at the rally in Hyde Park which followed the demonstration "Hunting
is our music, it is our poetry, it is our art, it is our pleasure." [2]
Meanwhile Tory MPs queued up to speak to their followers and they were cheered
and applauded widely.
Despite the impressive
turn-out, and there were unconfirmed rumours that many on it had been forced
to attend by their employers, it is likely that the ‘The Countryside Alliance’
would never have been any more than a pro-hunt group of minimal importance to
anyone not interested in the debate. However its appearance coincided with an
accelerating crisis in farming and rural communities generally, and it has been
able to capitalise on this to gain support among a much wider audience than
just hunting enthusiasts.
In essence The Countryside
Alliance has been astute enough to realise that it needed to show some concern
about genuine rural grievances in order to gain a much larger audience for its
pro-hunting views. As such its propaganda for the July 11th 1997
march and rally said "This initiative arose as a response to the frustration
and concern felt by country people against the threats posed to the countryside,
and the jobs, by politicians and urban influence, through prejudice, ignorance,
and diminishing rural representation" [3]
Alongside the claim
that without hunting things will get even worse The Countryside Alliance have
adopted strategies that have disguised the core interests of the Alliance. The
result has been that it has gradually become more and more acceptable and has
begun to be taken quite seriously by many as an authoritative voice on rural
issues, even those with which they have little connection, for example social
exclusion.
These strategies have included:
- a gradual change of board members
and key figures to move the peers and large landowners to more behind-the-scenes
roles,
- the appointment of some non-hunting
officers to give the impression of being a broad-based movement with all rural
issues at its heart,
- encouraging hunt supporters to
join organisations such as the National Trust and RSPCA, in order to make
hunting acceptable among more people, but also to narrow the gap between the
Alliance’s own position and the position taken by organisations which are
deemed by large numbers of the public to be respectable and moderate. [4]
- presenting foxhunting as an issue
of traditional civil liberties, whereby those living in the countryside are
encouraged to see themselves as a victimised minority
- It was not formally set up until
the following year, but the groups initially came together under this title
to organise the 10/07/1997 demo.
- Daily Telegraph 11.07/1997 and
Countryside Alliance Website.
- March to Hyde Park Mission
Statement, G" section of The Guardian 10.7.97
- Richard Meade, Olympic Gold Medal
winner for three-day eventing, was expelled from the RSPCA after being accused
of spearheading a campaign to infiltrate the society with hundreds of hunting
supporters – ‘The Countryman’s Weekly’ 29/06/2001
In fact, The Countryside Alliance
is part of the problem and as such cannot be part of the solution. It should
be opposed for several reasons:
- Obviously, it supports
hunting and other cruel sports.
- It claims to care about all
aspects of rural life, yet its structure, origins, membership and staff
suggest otherwise: It remains an organisation to defend field sports.
(See below)
- It claims to speak for ‘the
countryside’. In fact, it speaks for the leisure interests of the landed
gentry and assorted business people.
- Its proclamations about
how hard times are for rural people are fairly shameless considering
the role that landowners and business people have played in making sure
that times stay as hard as possible for the peasantry. The Countryside
Alliance is part of the problem, not the solution.
- Its funding and investments
show a high degree of hypocrisy (see below)
- Its staff have several
conflicts of interest (see below)
Structure
The Countryside
Alliance is, formally, an amalgamation of three groups: the British Field
Sports Society, the Countryside Movement and the Countryside Business
Group, but it is the name "British Field Sports Society Investments
Ltd." which appears in the annual accounts, alongside "Countryside
Alliance" [1]
, suggesting that the amalgamation may not have taken place on very equal terms..
Indeed,
the Countryside Movement and Countryside Business Group appear only to have
been formed to support field sports. According to a briefing prepared for the
CPHA, the Countryside Business Group was at first called the Country Sports
Business Group, but changed its name after only a few weeks [2]
. American-born corporate lawyer Eric Bettelheim, with the aim of raising funds
to protect field sports, founded it.
Bettelheim
is qualified to practice law in both the UK and the USA, and is a consultant
for Mishcon de Reya, where his Countryside Alliance chum John Jackson
is also employed. According to Bettelheim’s potted biography on the Mishcon
De Reya website, he specialises in the regulation of financial institutions,
derivatives, managed funds, cross-border transactions, and commercial dispute
arbitration, venture and development capital. He is a frequent speaker at industry
conferences and he is the author of over 40 publications and principal editor
of three texts dealing with swaps, futures and commodity products, none of which
seems to suggest that he has the concerns of the rural poor at heart. [3]
His approach to fundraising seems to have been quite unsuccessful: The Countryside
Business Group aimed to persuade businesses which would be threatened by the
demise of bloodsports to donate 1.5 per cent of their annual turnover to the
cause of defending them, as well as imposing a voluntary national game levy,
for example £3 per day for salmon anglers, or 27 p per pheasant.[4]
The CBG fell well short of its fundraising targets, however. Perhaps the irony
of some of Britain’s richest people trying to solicit protection money from
small businesses and individuals was not lost on those who did not pay up.
The Countryside
Movement was founded in November 1995, supposedly as a group to campaign on
rural issues other than bloodsports. Sir, now Lord, David Steel
was its first chairman, and received £93 752 for his efforts. [5]
His position on hunting
was mixed:
"If I
were confronted with an opinion poll and asked to tick a box to
approve or disapprove hunting, I would have to say that I disapprove,
but that is not the point. The point is whether I use my vote in the House
of Commons to ban an activity in which I personally do not wish to take
part when others might use their votes to ban activities in
which I do wish to take part." [6]
Angling,
for example. [7]
Other leading
lights in the Countryside Movement were more directly in favour of hunting.
At the first two inaugural meetings, those present included Max Hastings,
editor of the London Evening Standard (a keen shooter and angler, and Vice President
of the Game Conservancy Trust), [8]
Earl Peel, Chairman of the Game Conservancy Trust; the Duke of Westminster,
then President of the Game Conservancy Trust and the British Association for
Shooting and Conservation; and Hugh Van Cutsem, shoot owner and head
of the Countryside Business Group (CBG). The Countryside Movement’s Board
of Directors also included Robin Hanbury-Tenison OBE, then Chief Executive
of the British Field Sports Society and John Swift, then Chief Executive
of the British Association of Shooting and Conservation. [9]
The most
obvious influence of the BFSS and the Countryside Business Group on the Movement
came from funding. Any pretence that the Countryside Movement was a separate
body totally disappears with the revelation that the CBG provided £550 000 towards
the set-up and development of the organisation and that the BFSS provided £250
000. [10]
In addition, the Movement’s main activity, other than advertising itself, seems
to have been collecting people’s names and addresses for its database. This
was done in a fairly underhand manner, with National Farmers’ Union members’
addresses being passed on without their knowledge or consent. Not only that,
but the Countryside Movement had registered the BFSS as a recipient of its database,
even though many were no doubt against hunting and had joined up because of
concern at the state of the countryside in general. [11]
It can be safely
said that if The Countryside Alliance had decided to defend hunting by revealing
the names of who was behind it and who was financing it then the vast majority
who in opinion poll after poll had expressed their wish to see hunting with
dogs done away would probably have hardened their opposition. Much easier was
to keep this information hidden, present a more acceptable face and pretend
to be concerned about issues which effect not just those in the countryside
but in all areas of Britain – issues such as a lack of affordable housing, jobs,
children’s future, transport.
Just as fascists
in the BNP are forced to take up some elements of working class people’s social
conditions and problems to gain support, before giving them a reactionary and
right wing direction so those who formed The Countryside Alliance have sought
to employ similar methods to get a hearing. Hence The Countryside Alliance even
went as far as launching its own "campaign for rural rights" [press
release 16.10.97] in late 1997, only a few months before figures released on
30.01.98 revealed that there had been a 50% fall in farm incomes in 1997.
In the intervening
period, on Friday November 28th 1997 to be exact, Parliament voted
by a massive majority for a ban on foxhunting.
Strangely, two days
later The Mail in Sunday even went a far as suggesting Prince Charles was going
to quit hunting, aiming no doubt at trying to trick the public into believing
that the Royals are not arrogant and really do listen to public opinion. Bear
in mind that this was only months after Princess Diane’s death. By December
16th Prince William and Prince Harry were watching a hunt at which
Camilla Parker Bowles was riding at, the first time they’d been seen together
in public.
Two weeks later,
Baroness Ann Mallalieu QC, the new President of the Countryside Alliance, writing
in ‘The Field’ magazine of January 1998 said that those involved "include
not just field sportsmen of all kinds but those who own and manage most of the
countryside. The National Farmers’ Union, the Country Landowners Association
[who according to their own web-site own 60% of land in England and Wales],
the NFU of Wales, the Scottish Landowners and even organisations like the National
Park Communities are powerful voices".
Despite clearly being
an organisation set up by, consisting of, financed by, staffed by and run by
major landowners and the extremely rich [of which more below] this did not stop
the Countryside Alliance displaying a sickening degree of hypocrisy in its defence
of hunting putting forward the view that they are a defenceless minority under
attack. This continues to this day.
They have continuously
presented hunters as the real countryside managers who are responsible for no
brutality and as defenders of working people’s jobs, homes and futures. They
have even gone as far as using the language of the Civil Rights movement with
their "we seek from urban British society more tolerance – and a willingness
to listen to us" [Horse and Hound 8.1.98 page 41]
‘Listen to us’
has been the rallying cry amongst poor, hard done sections of society. Those
in The Countryside Alliance do not, under any circumstances constitute this.
Neither has anyone in a leading position ever displayed such qualities for other
actually oppressed groups – a bottle of champagne to anyone who can prove otherwise!
No, two bottles. In fact, a crate of the stuff…
Whilst ‘The Countryside
Alliance’ has made quite serious attempts to present itself as an organisation
which is much wider than bloodsports a look at its structure reminds us that
the changes have been largely cosmetic. Its departments are as follows:
|
PR
|
020 7840
9220
|
|
Membership
|
020 7840
9240
|
|
Political
|
020 7840
9260
|
|
Policy
|
020 7840
9250
|
|
Campaign
for Hunting
|
020 7840
9210
|
|
Foresight:
Campaign for Shooting
|
020 7840
9235
|
|
Campaign
for Falconry
|
020 7840
9200
|
|
Gone fishing:
Countryside Alliance initiative for Angling
|
020 7840
9274
|
|
Country Sports
& Political Hotline
|
07774 236101
|
|
Honest Food:
Campaign for Independent Food
|
020 7840
9219
|
Figure
1: Departmental Contact Details for Countryside Alliance, www.countryside-alliance.org/alliance/contact.htm
Its departmental
contact details betray a distinct bias towards bloodsports, with the campaigns
apparently not devoted to bloodsports being vague and undefined. There is not
even any section of the website (www.countryside-alliance.org),
as of March 28th 2002, devoted to the Honest Food campaign. In fact
between July 18th 2000 when ‘Honest Food’ welcomed the ‘ EU proposals
that could save rural abattoirs’ [12]
and March
27th 2002 with its ‘welcomes vote in House of Lords as a "triumph
of sanity" [13
], a reference to the Lords postponement of a detailed discussion of the Animal
Health Bill until all enquiries into foot and mouth are completed, there was
not one peep from the ‘Honest Food’ campaign. During that time the Countryside
Alliance issued more press releases about the need for children to be taught
how to shoot. See for example Campaign for Shooting press release of July 18th
2001 announcing ‘lessons at the CLA Game Fair’ [14]
with reduced prices of £5 for under 18s.
Where?
The Countryside Alliance’s
address is:
The Old Town Hall,
367 Kennington Road,
London. SE11 4PT.
tel - 020 7840 9200
fax - 020 7793 8484
e-mail - info@countryside-alliance.org
Since May 2001, what
was the events office has been made into the Commercial Directorate, which is
based in Marlborough, Wilts, and is headed by Roger Loodmer.
Who?
The current Board
of Directors [as of 29/03/02] consists of:
John Jackson - Chairman
Bill Andrewes – Deputy
Chairman
Richard Burge – Chief
Executive
Lord Mancroft
Maurice Askew
Prof. Caroline Tisdall
Robert Waley-Cohen
Charles Wilson
David Reynolds
Bob James
Mark Firth
Sam Butler
Given that at least
nine of these twelve people are involved in bloodsports, we should not give
too much credence to the Countryside Alliance’s pretensions of being a broad-based
organisation concentrating on a wide range of rural issues. None of these people
have expertise in e.g. food policy or social exclusion, and some are actively
involved in perpetuating rural poverty, for example by selling overpriced homes
to commuters.
John Jackson
This ridiculously
busy man cannot possibly have enough brain-space left to think coherently about
the countryside: He is Non-Solicitor Chairman of law firm Mishcon de Reya, Chairman
of Ladbroke Group, and Celltech plc.; A Director of Billiton plc, Wyndeham Press
Group plc., WPP Group plc., Xenova Group plc., Brown and Jackson plc., and Oxford
Technology Venture Capital Trust; Special Advisor to the Korda Seed Capital
Fund and Cambridge Animation Systems Ltd.; and one of the four owners of History
Today. [15]
His original involvement with the Countryside Alliance was through the Countryside
Business Group. [16]
Bill Andrewes
Definitely
a hunting enthusiast, Bill Andrewes was with the BFSS, before becoming Chairman
of the Campaign for Hunting. Having been elected Vice-Chair of the CA Board,
he relinquished his other position. [17]
Richard Burge
A zoologist
and former Director General of the Zoological society of London, colonel's son
Richard Burge is also a Member of the Labour Party. He is a trustee for the
Television Trust For The Environment and of the Charles Darwin Centre. He also
sits on the council of the Shropshire and West Midlands Agricultural Society.
[18]
His appointment as Chief Executive is said to have caused consternation in some
quarters, particularly after an interview in the Spectator, in which he said
that he would take a job from anybody, had never hunted, and that the Countryside
Alliance would survive without hunting. [19]
Lord Mancroft
Tory peer
Lord Mancroft was Deputy Chairman of the BFSS [20],
and is chairman of Inter Lotto UK Ltd. [21]
Maurice Askew
Maurice
Askew has been associated with the Union of Country Sports Workers and is or
has been Master of the Barlow Hunt in Derbyshire. [22]
He is quoted as threatening that "We are fighting for liberty and freedom. My
warning for Mr Blair is that if he does not listen to us there will be a civil
war in this country, the like we have never seen since the days of Cromwell
and Fairfax." [23]
Prof. Caroline Tisdall
Formerly
a Guardian journalist, Caroline Tisdall is now Professor of the Department of
Rural Future at Oxford Brookes University. She shoots, angles, stalks, hawks
and "would die in a ditch to defend hunting". [24]
Robert Waley-Cohen
Owner of
a healthcare company, Robert Waley-Cohen has been a steward for The Jockey Club,
(also associated with the Jockey Club are fellow CA board member Charles
Wilson, Christopher Sporborg, a Countryside Alliance director, and the Duke
of Roxburghe [25]
and Lord Vestey [26],
donors to the CA) is a racehorse owner and is organiser of Upton House Horse
Trials. [27]
He was an executive of Christies Auctioneers (UK and US) from 1969-1981, and
in 1983 founded Alliance Imaging Inc., the largest out-sourced radiology department
in the US, followed by Alliance Medical Ltd., the largest out-sourced radiology
department in Europe. He is also a trustee of the Countryside Foundation for
Education, a member of the National Trust, and the Country Landowners Association
(due to being a partner in a farm on land surrounding Upton House in Warwickshire)
[28]
Charles Wilson
Charles
Wilson is a former Managing Editor of Mirror Group Plc; former Editor
of The Times a Trustee World Wide Fund for Nature UK and a member of
the Jockey Club. [29]
David Reynolds
Master of
the Woodland Pytchley Hunt, David Reynolds is so keen to defend hunting that
according to the East Northants. Anti-Bloodsports, he has tried to ride over
saboteurs on a number of occasions. [30]
Bob James
A well-known angler,
Bob James is Chairman of the Countryside Alliance’s Gone Fishing Campaign.
Mark Firth
Chair of
Foresight, the Countryside Alliance’s Campaign for Shooting, Mark Firth is Joint
Managing Director of Roxton Bailey Robinson sporting agents. He participates
in shooting, fishing, stalking and other country sports in the UK and worldwide.
[31]
Sam Butler
Chairman
of the Countryside Alliance’s Campaign for Hunting, Master of Warwickshire Hunt
and partner in estate agent Butler-Sherborn, Sam Butler is a particularly badly-placed
person to be a leading light on an organisation which claims to care about rural
communities. His estate agents sell extremely pricey homes to rich folk, with
not a hope of the locals being able to afford them. Nick Cohen of the Observer
phoned Butler-Sherborne posing as a cash buyer for a remarkably over-priced
Cotswold pad. On expressing concern that he could face hostility for being a
townie, the saleswoman replied 'Oh no, Everyone round here's a commuter.' [32]
Butler made
rather a fool of himself by bellowing without a blush to a demonstration outside
the Labour Party Conference: 'Our forefathers didn't fight Hitler to have this
lot take away our liberties.' One of Butler's forefathers was 'Rab' Butler,
who certainly didn’t fight Hitler. He appeased him throughout the Thirties and
then aided Lord Halifax's manoeuvres to force Churchill to bring about a negotiated
surrender in 1940. [33]
President
- Baroness Anne Mallalieu QC
A Labour
peer and great fan of hunting: "Hunting is our music. It is our poetry. It is
our art. It is our pleasure. It is where many of our best friendships are made.
It is our community. It is our whole way of life." [34]
Deputy President
- Lord Marcus Kimball
Educated
at Eton and Cambridge, Lord Kimball has been Director of the Royal Trust Bank,
External Member of the Council of Lloyds, and Tory MP for Gainsborough in Lincolnshire.
He has been Huntmaster of the Fitzwilliam Hounds and Cottesmore Hounds, and
frequents Whites and Pratt’s gentlemen’s clubs. [35]
Commercial Directors
Christopher Sporborg
A banker
who lives on a farm in Hertfordshire [36].
One wonders what happened to the farmer…
Michael Hoare
A banker
from London. [37]
A real yokel then…
Nick Bannister
A stockbroker
from London. [38]
Hmm.
Secretary: Roger
Loodmer
An angler from London.
Also
of interest is that out of the Countryside Alliance’s token five pounds’ worth
of shares, one is held by Andrew Salvesen, who was a Non-executive Director
of Christian Salvesen plc. between 1989 and the demerger in September
1997, when he was appointed to the Board of Aggreko plc. He had more
than 20 years' with Christian Salvesen, including being Managing Director of
Christian Salvesen's former Oilfield Technology operations. He is a Non-executive
Director of Smedvig ASA and Stirling Shipping Ltd as well as being
Chairman of Robertson Research Holdings Limited, Canvas Holidays Limited
and Roxar ASA. [39]
Quite what expertise about the countryside this has given him is unclear.
Who Else?
Who funds the Countryside
Alliance?
A document leaked
to The Observer revealed a number of donors to the Alliance. They include:
Prince Charles,
who lent his house for a cocktail party
Sir Hardy Amies,
the Queen's dressmaker
Lord Vestey,
the meat tycoon and polo playing chum of Charles who is page of honour to the
Queen.
Marquess of Hartington,
chairman of the British Horseracing Board and the Queen's representative of
Ascot.
Sir Christopher
Bland, Chair of the BBC
Duke
of Northumberland [40]
– one of Britain’s richest men with 132,300 acres
who caused controversy by riding roughshod over local opinion by planning to
build executive homes in Chatton on his estate. [41]
The
Duke Of Westminster– Britain’s richest man, with an estimated fortune of
£4 Billion, gets £3, 000 000 in farm subsidies per year for his farm near Chester,
[42]
is a member of the Country Land and Business Association (CLA, formerly
the Country Landowners’ Association), was one of the original board members
of the Countryside Movement [43]
and has been the President of the Game Conservancy Trust and the British
Association for Shooting and Conservation. He is reported to have helped
out the Countryside Movement with a £ 1 million-pound ‘loan’. [44]
He was also on the Countryside Alliance’s board until a 1998 re-shuffle in order
to make themselves look less like the voice of the landed gentry [45],
and is one of the Countryside Alliance’s main funders, though rumours that he
is the ‘anonymous benefactor’ who provided its offices were denied by the Alliance.
[46]
Sir Robert McAlpine,
construction company
Sunley Holdings,
construction company
Persimmon
Homes [47]
home-building company. In a stunning piece of hypocrisy,
the Countryside Alliance on one hand expresses concern about the destruction
of greenfield land and recognises that "the problems caused by this type
of development extend far beyond the obvious destruction of attractive countryside
and wildlife habitat," [48]
yet on the other hand are funded by those who are responsible for this destruction.
Who
Does The Countryside Alliance Support?
Shares:
Yet more double standards
are apparent in the CA’s investments. It has more than
£40 000
worth of shares in Barclays bank, which caused a storm last year by closing
171 rural branches. [49]
On one hand the Alliance is campaigning against these moves, whilst on the other,
financially supporting them. Likewise, it holds £30 000 worth of investments
in Shell, [50]
whilst backing the oil protests in 2000o and simultaneously claiming to care
about the environment, and also holds large investments in super-polluter ICI
and ethically-challenged mining company Rio Tinto, not to mention arms
and tobacco companies. [51]
PR and lobbying
company PPS Group Ltd
The Countryside
Alliance’s choice of PR and lobbying company is particularly noteworthy. Political
Planning Services Ltd. may not be big, but it carries disproportionate weight,
consisting of individuals who have worked closely with politicians in the past.
Again, a great conflict of interest is present in the Countryside Alliance’s
support for this company, since it specialises in trying to get through controversial
planning applications. On its web page, it even boasted about helping US pharmaceuticals
giant Pfizer to get planning permission for a new UK headquarters on
greenbelt land! [52]
Past clients
include McDonalds, Morrisons, Orange, Tesco and Sainsbury’s, not
noted for their ecological thinking, nor for their equitable treatment of farmers,
nor for their contribution to healthy local economies. [53]
Through its support of PPS, the Countryside Alliance supports abuse of the planning
system, whereby those who have money pay for lobbyists to get them round the
planning laws, and cover the countryside with community-killing sprawl, whilst
those who do not have difficulty getting permission to build themselves a single
home and also bear the brunt of increased traffic, community decay and increasingly
mind-numbing jobs. Likewise, being a specialist in controversial planning applications,
PPS has over 20 home-building, construction and quarrying companies on its client
list [54],
and the Countryside Alliance supports this whilst at the same time expressing
concern about the destruction of the countryside.
Lastly,
concerning PPS, it is worth noting that Mark Pendlington, former managing
director at PPS Group, is now Chief Executive of the Country Land and Business
Association (CLA), bringing out yet more cosy links between landowners,
big business and manipulation of government. [55]
The
Times – Thursday March 28th 2002
The future
By the time this
booklet is printed the Countryside Alliance will have already announced when
it is planning to march in London.
Our challenge is
to make sure that people know it is an organisation for the defence of bloodsports,
not an organisation which can address the wider problems of diminishing incomes
for rural people, not an organisation which will stop the countryside being
covered in concrete and pollutants, and not an organisation which will devote
any significant resources to improving the quality of our food.
On one hand the Countryside
Alliance says it cares about social exclusion, on the other hand, its staff
consists of bankers and landlords who specialise in the unequal distribution
of wealth, and its shareholdings perpetuate this.
On one hand it says
it is concerned with the fate of the whole countryside, on the other hand it
devotes scarcely any resources to non-bloodsports issues.
On one hand, it expresses
concern about the environment, on the other hand its staff and donors are busily
covering the land in overpriced housing and its shareholdings and PR company
are facilitating this.
People who care about
the countryside must show the Countryside Alliance up for the fraud that it
is, and must break its virtual monopoly as the’ voice of the countryside’.
[1] Countryside
Alliance, Annual Report and Accounts 2000, p. 19-24
[2] Stewart,
Ben, (Campaign for the Protection of Hunted Animals), The Countryside Alliance
– a Briefing, unpublished
[3] http://www.mishcon.co.uk/fir/fir_d/fir_d_peop/fir_d_peop30.htm
, last viewed 22nd June 2001
[4] "Rural
Lobby Takes Aim At Theme Park Britain", Times,
[5] Select
Committee on Standards and Privileges Twelfth Report, Annex A, (letter to the
Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards from Mr Dale Campbell-Savours MP),
HMSO, 10 February 1998, including excerpt from Countryside Movement Annual Report
and Accounts for the year ending 31st March 1997.
[6] House
of Commons Hansard Debates for March 3rd 1995, www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm199495/cmhansrd/1995-03-03/Debate-3.html
[7] ibid
[8] http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:u5RtOK_jg5M:www.panmacmillan.com/AV/MaxHastings.htm+%22Max+Hastings%22&hl=en
, last viewed 25th June 2001.
[9] Say,
Judy, "So What is The Countryside Movement Up To?" www.oneworld.org/tlio/research/le3say.html
[10] Stewart,
Ben, (Campaign for the Protection of Hunted Animals), The Countryside Alliance
– a Briefing, unpublished
[11] Ibid
[12] www.countryside-alliance.org/news/latest/00/000718honest.htm
[13] www.countryside-alliance.org/news/02/020327hone.htm
[14] www.countryside-alliance.org/news/01/010718camp.htm
[15] www.mishcon.co.uk
[16] "Guardian
of the Land", Horse and Hound, 15th February, p10
[17] "Board
Changes at Countryside Alliance", Press release, Countryside Alliance,
7th July 1998
[18] Who’s
Who 2000, A and C Black, London 2000, p291
[19] Gone
to Claridge’s", The Spectator, 20th January 2001
[20] RSPCA
Head ‘Enlisted Hunters’, Times Wednesday May 2nd 2001
[21] "Next
Step Forward for the Countryside Alliance", Press release, Countryside
Alliance, 26th March 1998, http://www.countryside-alliance.org/news/latest/980326sgm.htm
[22] "Countryside
‘army’ descend on Labour", This is London, September 29th 1999
[23] Maurice
Askew of the Country Sports Workers at the Welsh Countryside March and Rally,
Western Mail, November 11th 1999
[24] Caroline
Tisdall, potted biography for Countryside Alliance Board elections 2001.
[25] Prince’s
Aide Revives Row Over GM Food, The Guardian, 28th September 1999.
[26]Prince
named as secret backer of hunt lobby, The Guardian, 26th September
1999.
[27] British
Endurance-Riding Association, Latest News March 2000, http://www.british-endurance.org.uk/ghr_pressnews.html
, last viewed 9th July 2001
[28] www.countrysidefoundation.org.uk/WhatisCFE/Trustees/RW-Cmain.htm
[29] "Next
step forward for the Countryside Alliance, 26th March 1998, www.countryside-alliance.org/news/latest/980326sgm.htm
[30] East
Northamptonshire Anti-BloodSports News, December 2nd 2000 www.northantshsa.org.uk/news.htm
"Hunt Master hospitalises Saboteur" Kettering Hunt Saboteurs news
release 11th February 1995
[31] "New
Chairman For Campaign For Shooting and Alliance Shooting Committee", Press
Release, Countryside Alliance, 21st June 1999
[32] "Is
it Hair or Blague?", The Observer, 31st December 2000
[33] Unholy
Alliance, The Observer, 15th October 2000
[34] Baroness
Mallalieu’s speech at the Hyde Park Rally, later repeated in her submission
to the Hunting Inquiry http://www.huntinginquiry.gov.uk/evidence/baronessmallalieu.htm
[35] Who’s
Who 2000, A and C Black, London, p.1139
[36] Countryside
Alliance Annual Return 2000
[37] ibid.
[38] ibid.
[39] http://production.investis.com/aggreko/board/
last viewed 9th July 2001
[40] "Prince
Named As Secret Backer Of Hunt Lobby", The Observer, 26th September
1999
[41] "Tenants
Revolt Over Duke’s Homes Plan", Daily Express, 10th February
2000.
[42] "Revealed:
How Britain’s Richest Man Takes A £3m Tax Hand-Out, The Observer, 20th
May 2001
[43] "Rural
Lobby Takes Aim At Theme Park Britain", The Times, 17th November
1995
[44] "Back
In The Hunt", The Guardian, 4th October 2000.
[45] "Country
Alliance Seeks New Image", The Times, 4th April 1998
[46] Anonymous
source, June 2001
[47] Stewart,
Ben, (Campaign for the Protection of Hunted Animals), The Countryside Alliance
– a Briefing, unpublished.
[48] E.g.
www.countryside-alliance.org.uk/country/development.htm
, last viewed 9th July 2001
[49] "Fury
Over Rural Lobby’s Shares" The Observer, 29th April 2001
[50] Ibid.
[51] Ibid.
[52] www.ppsgroup.co.uk,
this claim was removed from their web-site following a re-vamping in early 2001
[53] www.ppsgroup.co.uk
– as of March 28th 2002
[54] Ibid
55. "New
Chief Executive Announced For CLA", CLA Press Release, 23rd
January 2001 http://194.200.85.11/sources/27/171/4015965/01009HQ.htm
Information
required on 367 Kennington Road, London SE11 4QT
Records checked at
the Land Registry on April 2nd 2002 revealed that the property occupied
by The Countryside Alliance at 367 Kennington Road, London SE11 is owned by
Kennington Estates Limited. They company has, in the last six to seven years,
had a number of registered addresses. The latest one is Sue Smith Accountancy,
First Floor, 134 Oatlands Drive, Oatlands Village, Weybridge, Surrey KT13 9HJ
[company no 02998334]
The company has three
directors – Catherine Rachel Leigh Wood [secretary] of 35 Kensington Gardens,
London W2 4BQ, Gideon Andrew Leigh Wood of the same address and Philip Adam
Leigh Wood of 85 Kensington Gardens, London. They are directors in 70, 31 and
33 different companies respectively, including Kennington Estates Limted.
Interestingly, the
sole shareholder, Kintyre Limited, of PO Box 175, 78 Marylebone High Street,
London W1M 3DE does not seem to exist any more.
Thanks to Red-Star-Research
for this information.
If anyone has any
further information on these companies or individuals then it would be gratefully
received.
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