MIKE Foster had a chance encounter on the day the Hunting Bill received its Second Reading in the Commons this week.

The Worcester Labour MP was ambling past Guy's Hospital on his way to the Commons shortly before 9am on Wednesday.

His mind was naturally on how things would go with the legislation on banning fox-hunting in Parliament later that day.

And who should put in an appearance in central London to remind Mr Foster why he is battling to outlaw the bloodsport.

But of course, Mr Fox.

A fox has just run right in front of me it's unreal," he tells the diary, live.

It's absolutely spooky. He (could this be sexist?) did not have time to wish me good luck but I did not see any dogs so he may have been all right."

Mr Foster also had question No 8 to Tony Blair at Prime Minister's Questions.

MPs from all sides would have expected him to fire off a salvo about fox-hunting.

But Mr Foster knows he should not promote the campaign to outlaw the bloodsport at the expense of his constituency duties.

So he was planning to wrong-foot Conservative MPs, expecting him to beat the anti-hunt drum, by asking a question about flooding in Worcestershire.

But time ran out before he could put his question and his ruse bit the dust.

Mid-Worcestershire Tory MP Peter Luff had his own tussle on the Hunting Bill with the House of Commons library.

He persuaded it to revise a document on the issue because he though it was biased.

Mr Luff was particularly angered by the introduction, which said: The long-standing dynamic between the pro-hunting groups and anti-hunting groups has been disturbed by the Middle Way Group which purports to seek a compromise that could be acceptable to both.

He blasted officials for saying the Middle Way Group, which he co-chairs, was purporting to put forward a compromise since this suggested that it was trying to mislead people.

Purports was duly changed to aims.

The Bill includes an option for licensing hunting which is the Middle Way solution.

But Mr Luff nevertheless opposed the legislation at Second Reading.

I voted against my option because of outside perceptions, he said.

A vote for the Bill I think would have been seen by most people as a vote to ban fox-hunting.