Tories should go rural

Sheila Gunn was press secretary to prime minister John Major from 1995 to 1997.

---

By Sheila Gunn

Question One: It's the middle of an overcast night; you're going home alone with no torch. Where would you feel safest? Walking along a deserted country lane? Or through a well-lit city centre? Your answer gives some clue as to whether you're essentially a rural or urban spirit.

To date my totally unscientific poll has revealed that most people have an instant, strongly-felt preference - and physically shudder at the mere thought of the alternative.

So, forget the north/south divide: our nation is much more sharply split along urban/rural lines.

Tony Blair acted effectively as his government's front man this week, wrinkling his brow in concern for our farming communities. However to most Labour activists, there is something alien, if not downright offensive, about life outside the big cities.

Country vendetta

Some go so far as to conduct a vendetta to "punish" country folk. "I don't remember them protesting when steel workers lost their jobs," they're heard to mutter.

Three signs of this tendency were evident this week. Agriculture Minister Nick Brown had to be dragooned into abandoning the TV studios for a few hours to attend a Commons debate on the foot-and-mouth outbreak; only 13 Labour MPs turned up to listen; and, as the country ground to a halt, Labour insisted on pressing ahead with the anti-hunting bill.

This issue presents an enormous opportunity for the Conservatives, who should take the gloves off and come out unashamedly as the party that stands up for rural Britain. William Hague's excellent Yorkshire credentials and obvious love of its countryside give him a flying start.

Countryside at stake

He will doubtless be told by excessively qualified pollsters that few target seats will be swung on the rural vote. Twaddle. This is one time when we should take a lesson from our Continental brethren and foster love and respect for the countryside among even the most committed city dwellers. If we don't, it will be lost forever.

The Countryside Alliance understands this. Of all those who registered for the 18 March rally before it was postponed, a fair few would have had scant hands-on experience of agriculture. That doesn't mean they don't understand what is at stake.

Although the fates may be conspiring to dislodge the Conservatives' gathering in Harrogate this weekend, it provides the ideal opportunity to exploit our rural credentials.

On the train journey up from London, in spite of this week's horrendous rail crash, I look forward to time spent contemplating - and feeling comforted by - early signs of spring in the countryside along the way. That countryside without its animals is unthinkable.

So Question Two: a generous friend offers you a freshly-plucked chicken, complete with head and feet, from his/her lovingly tended flock; a supermarket chiller cabinet displays something pale, boneless, fleshless, covered in plastic and labelled "chicken". Which would you prefer to cook and eat?