North London Hunt Sabs launch new lobby group
- dereckhoward99
- May 9
- 4 min read
Updated: 7 days ago
A new anti-hunt pressure group has sprung up, seemingly out of nowhere, calling itself The New Hunting Ban.
A quick browse of its website gives the impression of a slick and well put-together lobby group with a “Parliamentary Committee” of four backbench Labour MPs. However, an investigation by BTM has uncovered the comical truth: the outfit is little more than a glossy veneer of professionalism coating the clownish activities of the North London Hunt Sabs (NLHS).
It’s notable that the ‘Committee’ (which is not the same as a select or bill committee and has no official status in Westminster) includes three brand new Labour MPs, elected under a year ago. The leaders of the New Hunting Ban (NHB) have clearly targeted unexperienced parliamentarians in the hope of giving them some status and sense of purpose in the blob that is Keir Starmer’s 403-seat strong majority.
So who are these hapless lobbyists? Let’s meet the sabs behind the charade.
Meet The Team:
Rhys Giles, NHB director and sab hailing from one of London’s most expensive residential areas
Giles is a prolific member of NLHS. A self-proclaimed devotee of animal welfare, he has proudly admitted to using electronic devices to play hound noises in order to disrupt hunts: a very dangerous tactic that can cause hounds to stray from the trail, in some cases running into roads and oncoming traffic.
His other hobbies include trampling over famers’ crops, trying to pressure businesses into ceasing associations with hunts, and holding talks about sabbing (the posters for which have been torn down on two occasions, demonstrating that perhaps most ordinary people are hostile to Giles’ preaching).
Philip Walters, Consulting Director and alleged convicted criminal
Based in Luton, Walters is the de facto leader of the NLHS.
Despite New Hunting Ban’s pretentions of respectability, Walters has a troubling criminal past.
According to online sources, Walters was handed a 15-month ban for drink driving in November 2003, as well as a fine for driving an uninsured vehicle in northwest Wiltshire.
A few months later, in March 2004, sources indicate that Walters was given a two-year community rehabilitation order and another three-year driving ban after once again driving without insurance.
Worse still, in 2008, Walters was reportedly charged at Colindale police station with criminal damage and destruction of property worth more than £5,000. He is also believed to have been charged with assault and battery.
In January, Walters and Giles were seen schmoozing in the corridors of power with Poole MP Neil Duncan-Jordan MP, who has since joined the NHB ‘committee’.
Beth Hamilton, Communications Manager and “proud member of the leftist wokerati”
Beth Hamilton is a former PETA employee and self-declared "intersectional feminist" and “proud member of the leftist wokerati”.
Hamilton’s particular brand of feminism includes describing children’s author JK Rowling as a “transphobic hag” – the word “hag” widely acknowledged as being rooted in misogynistic and ageist attitudes towards women. Rather bad comms from a communications professional.
Hamilton openly shares pictures of her out sabbing, as well as her participation in animal rights activist group Anonymous for the Voiceless (AV) rallies.
The sort of activism that includes intimidating the public while wearing black hoodies and Guy Fawkes masks is conspicuously absent from The New Hunting Ban’s clean and shiny website.
Angela Vasiliu, Operations Manager who is willing to break the law
Angela Vasiliu is yet another member of the NLHS coterie. Political advocacy is quite a change for Vasiliu, whose usual habits involve donning a mask and running around fields as a sab.
Vasiliu is involved with ‘Meat the Victims’, including taking part in the group’s 50-man storming of a farm near Wakefield in July 2021. Meat the Victims proudly encourages supporters to “disobey unjust laws together to abolish animal exploitation”. It is baffling that someone who is so openly willing to break the law should be meeting with law makers to discuss the Hunting Act.
Meat the Victims is not the only controversial animal rights organisation Vasiliu is involved with. She is also an organiser for the Guildford branch of AV. The organisation has been heavily criticised by other animal rights activists and vegans who have accused the organisation of racism and ableism.
AV came under fire for alleged ableism after it criticised the use of service animals by disabled people, claiming in a social media post that “service dogs and the like are still a WANT and not a need”. Understandably, the comments section was full of horrified reactions. One Facebook user wrote AV was “asking disabled people to give up [their] access, safety, health, and lives” while another argued that service dogs allow people with disabilities “to lead a more normal life and to overcome challenges”.
Rebecca Reddington, Legal Counsel who is NOT a solicitor
Little is known about Rebecca Reddington, the New Hunting Ban's grandly-titled 'Legal Counsel', apart from the fact that she is not a practicing solicitor according to the Solicitors Regulation Authority's Register. There is also no trace of Reddington on the Barristers' Register.
That Reddington does not appear on either registry does therefore beg the question: just who is the New Hunting Ban getting legal advice from?
