Boris vs Carrie: PM locks horns with wife over real bear skins for Coldstream Guards
3 February 2022, 16:41
Boris Johnson is locking horns with wife Carrie after coming out in favour of continuing to use real black bear fur for ornamental caps of the Coldstream Guards.
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In a leaked email to one of his constituents, the PM said that a faux fur alternative was not good enough for the job, suggesting it would not protect soldiers from the rain or look smart enough on the parade ground.
In 2020, the Ministry of Defence bought 110 black bear pelts from a supplier in Canada, at a cost of £145,000.
But the animal welfare charity Peta wants the Ministry of Defence to switch to a fake alternative. And it has some powerful supporters, namely the PM’s wife Carrie Johnson, who it named in 2020 as the charity’s person of the year, describing her as a “fearless force for good”.
Mrs Johnson is understood to be supportive of the campaign to ban the import of the fur to make the ceremonial hats, which are famous across the world.
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Nevertheless, the Prime Minister himself wrote to a constituent back in December to say a faux fur alternative was not up to scratch.
He wrote: “Sadly, as the man-made fur did not meet the standards required for a ceremonial cap which is worn throughout the year and in all weathers, the MoD has no plans to take this man-made fabric forward.”
Ministers are due to bring forward new animal welfare legislation soon. It is expected to include a ban on all imports of dead animal products, where the prey has been shot by a trophy hunter.
Black bear fur will be included within the ban if the animal is a victim of a trophy hunter.
But the MoD will secure an exemption in the legislation, allowing it to continue to import the bear pelts from Canada.
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The animal charity Peta says these bears are often shot for pleasure by trophy hunters who have been given a licence as part of efforts in Canada to cull the population of black bears. They say the trophy hunters then sell these pelts on to the same supplier who provides the fur needed to make the caps for the Coldstream Guards.
Kate Werner, senior campaigns manager at Peta, told LBC that black bears “shouldn’t be slaughtered to make ornamental hats”.
Previous Conservative governments have found themselves falling on the wrong side of animal rights activists in the past.
Theresa May’s decision to open the door to a return to fox-hunting during the 2017 election campaign was seen as one the reasons she lost her overall majority.
In 2019, Boris Johnson avoided making the same mistake when his campaign team insisted there would be no return of the blood sport if he won the election.
