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The last time animal activists in Great Britain tried to ban fox Hunting with dogs what looked like an easy win turned into an embarrassing debacle for Tony Blair's Labor government. Apparently it is not an embarrassment Blair will easily forget as in a nationally televised debate Blair vowed,
It [fox hunting] will be banned. We will get the vote to ban it as soon as we possibly can. We had one try last session. It was blocked by the Conservatives in the House of Commons and the House of Lords and we're looking now at ways of bringing it forward in a future session that allows people to have a vote and actually carry it through.
This pleased the International Fund for Animal Welfare which wants to ban hunting altogether in the United Kingdom by Jan. 1, 2000. According to Mike Baker, executive director of the IFAW, "Hunting wild mammals with dogs is cruel and unnecessary and the government has recognized that it has no place in a modern Britain."