I’ve now got the unenviable task of following Mark Francois and speaking before Sir Ranulph Fiennes. Mark undoubtedly has the best jokes, and I know Sir Ranulph will have the best stories, and I know they will both speak beautifully. What an amazing and moving tribute from Mark.
I want to start by thanking the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation for dedicating this event to Sir David. It is a very fitting tribute to him, and also a reminder to all of us that, however good or entertaining we might think our speeches are tonight, none of them will be as good as the one that Sir David would have given if he had been here himself. I’ve looked and listened to a few of these speeches, and they were full on ‘Sir David’ at these events.
We have already heard about Sir David being a great animal lover, and about his menagerie that Mark took over, but at its height, there were six aquariums, 7 birds, 2 turtles and a crab! It was a surprise to me, on my first day in Westminster, to discover that not only was I a new Member of Parliament, but also the proud owner of an African Cichlid, more commonly known as a large goldfish called Norman, inherited from Sir David. When we moved from Sir David’s very lovely room to my tiny rabbit hutch, there was no way that Gill, my office manager, was going to be separated from Norman. Mark did put up a very spirited attempt to kidnap him though!
But there was one animal in the Palace of Westminster that David struggled with, and that was the many palace mice. The Palace is overrun with mice, and David fought a constant battle of wits against them. According to Gill, they were interviewing a very lovely, polite young lady for a position in his office. She very stoically put up with the shrieks of the canaries, the budgies and the love birds, but at one point her eyes glazed over, and she said “is there supposed to be a mouse on your desk?” Sure enough, sitting bold as brass on his desk was a little brown mouse! David and Gill shot out of their seats yelling “catch it!” but it made its escape out of the air conditioning duct, and David was most aggrieved because it had already managed to eat through a stick of rock that he had been saving for himself.
But it is for his amazing work to improve animal rights that I think he would most like to be remembered. When David joined in Parliament, he was one of only four Conservative MPs who were opposed to fox hunting – there were more giant pandas in Europe than there were Conservative MPs against fox hunting! Now of course there are hundreds.
A lot of this sea-change in attitudes to animals and animal welfare must be credited to David, and to Lorraine and Chris and the wonderful Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation.
Sir David was a colossus when it came to standing up for animals. He led so many campaigns during his long years in Parliament. From sponsoring the Horses and Ponies Bill in 1984 and the Pet Animals Bill in 1990, to introducing the Protection Against Cruel Tethering Act 1988 and supporting the Hen Caging (Prohibition) Bill in 2021, for almost 40 years Sir David was animals’ grand protector in Parliament.
But for last October’s tragic events, there is no doubt that Sir David would have continued this amazing work. Some of you will know that his final contribution in the House of Commons, almost exactly a year ago, was for a debate to commemorate World Animal Day 2021. I am sure that he would have been delighted that so many people are here tonight to celebrate World Animal Day 2022, and that the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation is continuing its amazing work.
I am very proud to take on his legacy. I myself am a big animal lover, and I know there are two issues in particular that Sir David would want us to continue.
One is the use of pig farrowing crates. In the words of Sir David himself last year, “While confined in farrowing crates, these sensitive and—this is not always understood—intelligent animals are unable to express many of their natural behaviours.”
Many countries have already outlawed this practice, but they are still used by 60% of herds in the UK – 200,000 pigs a year are confined in these cruel and tiny crates. calls for them to be banned. This is disgusting frankly, and we really have to do something about it.
The second issue is the export of live animals. This is a barbaric practice which causes appalling stress and suffering to animals, many of which die at sea in overcrowded, under-ventilated ships without proper access to food, water or care. They are at risk of injury or even being trampled to death, and often develop fever and disease.
Ending live exports is a manifesto commitment. Sadly, there is a rumour that banning the export of live animals for fattening and slaughter is going to be excluded from the Kept Animals Bill. This cannot be allowed to happen, and I am delighted to add my voice to CAWF’s campaign to end these journeys once and for all.
I want to conclude by thanking one person in particular: Lorraine. By setting up CAWF, you have changed Conservatives’ perception of the issue of animal rights, including getting mention of animals into the manifesto for the first time in 2019. I strongly believe that your work means that, as a party, we are now on the right side of the argument. You and everyone here at CAWF were Sir David’s heroes. Thank you.