Former LACS chair and MP Dan Norris voted in support of assisted dying bill AFTER arrest for child sex offences

Dan Norris MP, the former chair of anti-hunt charity the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) who was arrested in April on suspicion of rape, child sex offences, child abduction and misconduct in a public office, has continued to vote via proxy in Parliament, despite being banned from the Parliamentary Estate.

On 16 May, Norris used his proxy vote to support Kim Leadbeater’s extremely controversial assisted dying bill, voting to support the closure motion to begin the votes on the bill. He also voted against an amendment tabled by an MP opposed to the bill.

Despite his ban, Norris has also been very active in submitting 29 written questions to government ministers following his arrest. He has queried things like: Are MoD lands participating in No Mow May? And on 20 May Norris asked DEFRA about “plans to tackle wildlife crime” in his North East Somerset and Hanham constituency.  

One would imagine North East Somerset and Hanham constituents might be more concerned about the fact their MP has been arrested on suspicion of the heinous crimes of rape, child sex offences and child abduction. But this is a classic tactic of anti-hunt, animal rights extremists, who seem to make a habit of loudly condemning legal trail hunting whilst behaving (or being accused of having behaved) deplorably themselves.

Chris Packham is a classic example, popping up on an almost weekly basis to decry the tradition of trail hunting, accusing it of being “lawless” and “cruel”. Yet just last year Packham was filmed urging Barclays customers to set themselves on fire – pretty cruel, if you ask us. And for all his claims of the “lawlessness” of trail hunts, Packham was caught in December 2024 sabbing with a convicted bomb maker Mel Broughton, who had been jailed for ten years for conspiracy to commit arson, as revealed in Behind The Masks’ exposé. 

Dan Norris (left) with BBC's Chris Packham (centre) at an event in Parliament

And then there’s Ivor Caplin, a former Labour minister and LACS supporter, who was arrested in January on suspicion of engaging in online sexual communications with a child. The ex-MP for Hove was stopped at Brighton train station by the campaign group Stop Stings, who had been communicating with Mr Caplin for several months online, posing as an underage child.

Caplin was one of the original sponsors of the bill which became the 2004 Hunting Act. As a minister, in 2005, Caplin attempted to ban trail hunting on Ministry of Defence land, telling hunts that they would have to become members of the Masters of Bloodhounds and Draghounds Association and apply for individual licenses to cross MoD land. At the time this was widely seen as a cynical move to limit options for legal trail hunting.  

This all goes to show that the pattern emerging among prominent and politically influential anti-hunt campaigners is deeply troubling and raises serious questions about the moral authority of those leading the charge against traditional country sports. The very individuals who have spent years demonising a legal, regulated activity have far more serious questions to answer about their own conduct.