Any Questions fires up Cirencester audience (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Any Questions fires up Cirencester audience

THE ban on fox hunting led the debate during a fiery Any Questions in Cirencester last week.

The popular BBC Radio Four show, which is hosted by former Cirencester student Jonathan Dimbleby, was staged at the town's Bingham Hall on Friday night.

And the first question to the panel - made up of former sports minister Kate Hoey, former Tory Party chairman Theresa May, Liberal Democrat treasury spokesman David Laws and controversial columnist Rod Liddle - was on the week's hottest topic.

Kate Hoey won a round of applause when she spoke out in favour of fox hunting, branding the ban 'unfeasible'.

But Mr Liddle, who is associate editor of The Spectator and resigned as editor of Radio Four's Today programme in 2002 after writing a column in The Guardian criticising the Countryside Alliance, was heckled by certain sections of the crowd.

He said: "It (the ban) is the overwhelming view of the majority. What they (pro-hunt campaigners) shouldn't do is hunt foxes. "It's not as big a priority of burglary but it's the law and should be upheld."

In response to some barracking he received from one well-spoken female member of the crowd he cried: "There's one of the toffs shouting out now."

Theresa May said a Conservative government would repeal the ban straight away, while David Laws added: "I think in time people will respect the law and maybe we can then spend more time on some of the bigger issues such as global warming."

Other topics discussed during the programme, which was broadcast live, included London's bid for the Olympic Games, London Mayor Ken Livingstone's controversial comments to a Jewish journalist, the war on terrorism and the wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles.

On the latter subject Mr Liddle again caused a stir when he commented: "In effect, the Royal Family have become like most B-list celebrities. I'd like to see them get married at Peckham Register Office."