Tory leadership candidate Jeremy Hunt has said he would back a free vote on repealing the ban on fox hunting if he was Prime Minister.

Hunt appeared to echo a repeated Tory manifesto pledge that stretches back to 2005, but one that caused controversy when the party committed to it in 2017. It was quickly dropped after Theresa May’s disastrous showing.

The move is an appeal to the Conservative grassroots who will choose between Hunt and Boris Johnson as its next leader, but is likely to dismay modernisers.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, the foreign secretary said that as soon as there was a majority in parliament “that would be likely to repeal the fox hunting ban – then I would support a vote in parliament”.

While he did not hunt himself, he said: “I would vote to repeal the ban on fox hunting. It is part of the countryside.”

He added that “we have to recognise that in terms of the balance of the countryside. You know, it’s part of our heritage”.