Facts about league will be set straight (From Worcester News)

Facts about league will be set straight

8:00am Monday 16th February 2009 in

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SIR – Jon Burgess (February 2) claims that “two chairmen, two chief executives, one head of operations and an undercover operator” have left “well-paid jobs” at the League Against Cruel Sports “to support traditional hunting on the grounds that a ban would cause a severe decline in animal welfare”.

As a former executive committee member and a senior paid officer of the league from 1978 to 1997 who knew all the people Mr Burgess mentions, may I provide the facts of the matter. Firstly chairmen are not paid officers and none have ever resigned their positions to support hunting. The so-called ‘undercover operator’ was also unpaid and when he sought to become a member of the league’s paid staff he was rejected. It is true that two chief executives and a head of operations left the league over a period of a decade and a half from 1988 but the fact is all three were asked to resign for other reasons and did not announce any support for hunting until they were each in possession of about £20,000 payments – paid on the advice of league solicitors to avoid potentially more expensive industrial tribunal settlements. If a person resigned from a well-paid position because they genuinely no longer believed in the cause they were being paid to promote then that would be an entirely ethical position. But the facts show that all three officials fought to stay at the league and only announced support for bloodsports after they lost their jobs and their pay-offs were safely in their pockets. It does prove however that the league was right to insist on their resignations.

JOHN BRYANT

Kent