Burnham runs scared as fox stunt exposes Labour’s hunting betrayal

Protect the Wild activist, Robert Pownall, stood fully dressed up as a fox, next to a cold Andy Burnham last week.

The Makerfield by-election was crashed by the crafty creature, as he stood to expose how the Labour party is betraying the lives of millions of animals in the UK.

Pownall stood on the stage as an independent candidate to confront Burnham, the projected new leader of Labour, face to face on his party’s failure to protect our wildlife.

Burnham prefers curating perfection over conservation

Of course, the mainstream media all but ignored Pownall, save for a few snapshots of him and Burnham side by side. They didn’t bother to post his interruptive and passionate speech.

Instead, TV channels covering the by-election, such as Sky News and the BBC, quickly cut back to the studio. They erased his single-issue animal welfare campaign from the live broadcast.

Behind the scenes was no better. Burnham and his team were all about his personal PR. Showing their true corporate colours, they turned down Pownall’s request just for a picture with a sign. A sign that simply read: ‘Protect British Wildlife’.

Why the hell would Burnham’s PR team think that could be a bad thing? The public overwhelmingly back banning trail hunting. Why shy away from supporting the campaign?

Our fox did get a picture, but Burnham’s handler commanded him to take off his mask for it. And to top it off, Burnham was reportedly cold, dismissive and non-committal throughout their interaction.

He also brushed off serious advocacy for Labour’s promise to protect animals. (Looks like Burnham is going to be nothing but more of the same when it comes to animal welfare in the UK.)

A track record of empty words

We all know Burnham is a snake in this leadership contest. Not only has a video surfaced of him in 2015 pandering to the Israeli lobby, but his track record is absolute horse sh*t.

He carefully projects this compassionate image, but he’s nothing but a gatekeeper for more status-quo corporate politics. His track record proves he’s a career politician who’s too afraid to challenge elite interests.

And the entire Labour party has been shockingly terrible on animal rights since taking power. Despite pledging a clear manifesto pledge to FINALLY end the trail hunting, the current government has dragged its neatly polished boots ever since.

Ministers have hidden behind the bureaucracy of a 12-week public consultation. Meanwhile, they have invited the hunting lobby to a separate backroom roundtable discussion. This is nothing but a managed evasion.

It seems incredibly obvious that a Labour party under Burnham will continue to be crappy in regards to its previous promises.

I don’t get it. The public wants trail hunting banned, so just bloody ban it.

The next hunting smokescreen

A massive leak from the Times exposes exactly why Labour’s delays are so dangerous. Leaked documents from the British Hound Sports Association reveal a conspiracy to get around the upcoming regulations.

Members of the hunt are aware of just how toxic the term ‘trail hunting’ has become to the public. So these bloodthirty, rich murderers have already found a workaround that will let them continue to kill.

Viscount Astor, chairman of the association, had a “strictly confidential” note of his leaked. They plan to hoodwink ministers to avoid the new legislation entirely. These documents show the lobby has managed to raise £650,000 out of a £3 million campaign target from major donors.

These rats have also hired the consultancy firm, CT Group, co-founded by political strategist, Sir Lynton Crosby. The plan is to target about 100 marginal rural Labour MPs.

A note by British Hound Sports Association chair Viscount Astor was seen by The Times. Astor suggested the BHSA offer to convert hunts to drag hunting by 2028. He admitted a Bill was possible if hunts didn't comply. But his plan was, seemingly, to stall until the next election. pic.twitter.com/2Z7CRPA4oq

— Protect the Wild (@ProtectTheWild_) June 22, 2026

Their objective appears to be to scare these spineless politicians into concluding that banning hunting is going to damage their constituencies. Is Burnham even aware of this? Will he be the Labour leader who finally ends the massacre? Going off of his actions during the Makerfield count, I highly doubt it.

Drag hunting and more tricks behind closed doors

The hunting lobby intends to implement a slow approach to switching to non-animal scents to stall the ban until the next election. Astor suggested the legislation change could be avoided altogether by trail hunts offering to stop using animal-based scents to follow.

This is called ‘drag hunting’ and it’s the next big smokescreen they plan to hide behind as they continue to terrorise the countryside. But Andrew Osbourne, chair of the Masters of the Foxhounds association, said it would take a long time to retrain the hounds to attune to the new smell.

They plan to start the process of converting the pack next season. Weird, considering we have already seen them training new hounds to follow fox scents. But the hunt says this will allow them to fully switch to drag hunting by 2028. I say this is bull. This move allows the hunt to claim victory without the difficulty of legislation.

Burnham is probably going to be the next Labour leader, that much is obvious. He must know all about why Pownall stood next to him on the Makerfield stage during the count — but his refusal to stand with animal activists shows he will allow blood sports to continue.

We all need to take a leaf out of that fox’s book and stand up for animal rights, now. We need to keep up this relentless pressure on this deceptive prospective leader. Allowing him to fob off the lives of millions of our countryside animals is no longer an option.

So will Burnham stand with the public and finally ban fox hunting once and for all? Or will he bow to the corporate interests of the hunt?

Featured image via Protect the Wild/ Facebook