The Countryside Party was a minor

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

operating in the United Kingdom. It was formed on 22 May 2000 by Jim Crawford, a

chiropodist Podiatry () or podiatric medicine () is a branch of medicine devoted to the study, diagnosis, medical and surgical treatment of disorders of the foot, ankle, and leg. A Doctor of Podiatric Medicine (DPM), or a podiatrist, is a healthcare ...

and

sport shooter Shooting sports is a group of competitive and recreational sporting activities involving proficiency tests of accuracy, precision and speed in shooting — the art of using ranged weapons, mainly small arms (firearms and airguns, in forms such a ...

who was the Northern Director of the

Countryside Alliance The Countryside Alliance (CA) is a British organisation promoting issues relating to the countryside such as farming, rural services, small businesses and field sports, aiming to "Give Rural Britain a voice". History The Countryside Alliance ...

. Much of the party's agenda was the same as that of the Alliance, such as opposition to any restrictions on

fox hunting Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds" (or "master of ho ...

. The party stood unsuccessfully in elections for the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

, Scottish and

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

parliaments in the early 2000s.

Platform and membership

It was formed out of what it perceived as a lack of understanding or care about rural issues by the mainstream political parties. It was by and large a

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

-minded organisation, and unsuccessfully opposed measures such as the Scottish Land Reform Act which had been designed to give greater rights to tenant farmers and crofters. According to its 2004 accounts, the party's membership was formally "limited to the two founders, Jim Crawford and Richard Malbon plus a very small number of supporters who are not actually members of the Party".

Electoral history

Crawford contested Ross, Skye and Inverness West, then held by the

Liberal Democrat Several political party, political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democracy, liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties ...

leader

Charles Kennedy Charles Peter Kennedy (25 November 1959 – 1 June 2015) was a British Liberal Democrat politician who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1999 to 2006, and was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ross, Skye and Lochaber from 1983 ...

, for the Countryside Party in the 2001 UK general election. He did not win the seat. The Countryside Party stood in the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyro ...

2003 election for the

Highlands and Islands The Highlands and Islands is an area of Scotland broadly covering the Scottish Highlands, plus Orkney, Shetland and Outer Hebrides (Western Isles). The Highlands and Islands are sometimes defined as the area to which the Crofters' Act of 1886 ...

electoral region. It polled 1,768 votes (1.05% of the vote in the area). It contested the 2004 European elections in the

South West England South West England, or the South West of England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of the counties of Bristol, Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities and ...

and

North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...

constituencies. In the South West, it received 2.1% of the vote which was sufficient to retain its deposit. In the North West, it polled only 0.5%. Its relatively good standing in the South West may owe something to the notability of its candidates for reasons other than politics. The party's six candidates in the region included

Chris Thomas-Everard {{BLP sources, date=October 2010 The Thomas-Everard family are a family of British farmers who became known to the public during the 2001 foot and mouth crisis. The son Guy Thomas-Everard made an impassioned plea against his healthy farm animals bei ...

, whose family became famous during the 2001 foot and mouth crisis for refusing to allow his cows to be culled, Diana Scott, joint master of the Devon and Somerset hunt and a prominent pro-hunting campaigner and the explorer

Ranulph Fiennes Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 3rd Baronet (born 7 March 1944), commonly known as Sir Ranulph Fiennes () and sometimes as Ran Fiennes, is a British explorer, writer and poet, who holds several endurance records. Fiennes served in the ...

. The party was deregistered in July 2008. Crawford, who was later elected as a member of

The Highland Council The Highland Council (' ), the political body covering the Highland local authority created in 1995, comprises 21 wards, each electing three or four councillors by the single transferable vote system, which creates a form of proportional represe ...

for Inverness South, suggested in 2012 that the party could be reformed to oppose

wind farm A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used Wind power, to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundre ...

development. He died in 2020.

References

External links

Official Countryside Party website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Countryside Party (Uk) Political parties established in 2000 Defunct political parties in the United Kingdom Political parties disestablished in 2008 Rural society in the United Kingdom 2000 establishments in the United Kingdom 2008 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Fox hunting Single-issue political parties Defunct agrarian political parties