Tory leadership hopeful Jeremy Hunt has admitted he wants to bring back fox hunting.

In a desperate bid to appeal to Conservative grassroots, the Foreign Secretary voiced his support for the cruel sport which has been banned in England in Wales for nearly 15 years.

He said it was part of the countryside’s “heritage” and should be legalised.

But Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: "Labour proudly banned this barbaric practice. This Tory leadership race is going from bad to worse."

And Mr Hunt's surprise intervention will trigger dismay among Tory modernisers, who hoped he was the candidate to quell Boris Johnson's lurch to the right.

Sources stressed he would only seek to bring a free vote to the Commons – where MPs vote according to their consciences – if there was a majority in Westminster for such a view.