CONSERVATIVE leadership candidates Jeremy Hunt and Boris Johnson assured the Countryside Alliance this week that neither would introduce new or undue restrictions on legitimate gun ownership should they become PM.

Mr Johnson said he would ensure that laws on wildlife management were based on “facts rather than emotion”, and said looking to change firearms legislation was “not a priority”.

Mr Hunt said a Government led by him would “place rural society at the heart” , and that all legislation under his government “would be based on principle and evidence”.