There was unexpected excitement at the Liberal Democrat’s conference in Brighton on Tuesday evening, after pictures were made public of their Shadow Environment Secretary, Chris Huhne, wresting with a chicken for sport. A party spokesperson quickly released a press statement, explaining how the photographs had ‘been taken during a fact finding mission to Mexico, where — for the purpose of research — Chris tried his hand at the favourite local pastime’. This denial comes despite contacts in Mexico telling The Spine that ‘Mr. Huhne had a long career as one of the country’s top chicken wrestlers’ and that his ‘trademark was his wearing of the suit of an Englishman in the ring.’ Our source also tells us: ‘We used to call him “The Duke of Chickens” and he once went twelve rounds with the American champion, a particularly vicious Rhode Island Red.’

The news comes as a blow as the party tries to steal some ground from the Tories on environmental issues. Only yesterday, Simon Hughes launched a new manifesto for squirrels. Today, ex-leader Charles Kennedy was to argue for a review of attitudes towards moles, while later in the week, Lynne Featherstone was to announce a New Deal for Otters. ‘Chris has let us all down,’ said a source inside the party. ‘If we had known about his history of chicken wresting, we might have given it some spin but once you’ve seen him pin a chicken to the floor for a count of ten, you tend to lose all respect for the man.’

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