Beckett lets the cat out of the bag.

From Pendennis in Sunday's Observer.

'Many Labour opinion-formers, particularly those favoured by Gordon Brown, saw foxhunting as the first step. There are ongoing private discussions about how to stop the fishing and shooting,' says a lobby source. 'They're terrified, though, of losing four million fishermen's votes in one fell swoop, so are proceeding with great caution.'

All, it seems, apart from Margaret Beckett, Secretary of State for the Environment, who is directly in charge of countryside (and country sports) policies. When she appeared on the Today programme, she announced, unchecked: 'When we get rid of all the other blood sports, there will still be the House of Commons.'

No great secret and should it prove true, merely proves the suspicions that I've had for quite some time now. Thing is, given the previous track record of Blair throwing his baying back-benchers a nice juicy morsel of some Old Labour "anti-toff" legislation as a reward for them doing his bidding on something trivial like anti-terrorism or Identity Cards, will he use up the remaining field sports still left in one fell swoop or would he be best to keep something in reserve? No doubt we shall soon find out.