Controversial plans for a cull of badgers in West bovine TB hotspots have caused a rift between senior Tories, it has been reported.

Claims that Home Secretary Theresa May warned the plan could kill the political career of Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman emerged as the party’s conference began.

As the Daily Press has reported, Mrs Spelman wants to allow farmers to shoot badgers in trial areas next year, in the Somerset/Devon and Gloucestershire hotspots.

The culling will attract huge protests from animal rights campaigners, and Mrs May privately told Ms Spelman not to allow a cull during next summer’s Olympics.

There will not be enough police to cope with the expected trouble, as so many will be deployed at the Games in London, Dorset and other venues, she warned.

A Government source said the Home Secretary told her colleague: “You need to think of your career before pressing ahead with this.”

But other Ministers said Mrs May was the most likely of all Cabinet Ministers to “stick her nose” into the affairs of other departments.

Labour spokesman Vernon Coaker said the cuts meant Mrs May was taking an unacceptable risk with public safety in an Olympic year.

“Instead of discussing badger culls she should reverse the massive cuts to police officers she has forced through.”

Mrs Spelman said in her speech yesterday: “When it comes to stopping the relentless march of bovine TB after a decade of dither, this Government is proposing a tough, new package of measures to finally control this disease. A disease which has brought with it a terrible personal and economic toll.

“Labour oppose the package we’ve put forward – but like everything else they oppose, they’ve no credible alternative. When it comes to the countryside, they just don’t get it. The only time they encounter it is when they are desperately chasing a bandwagon through it.

“We get it, we value and we are here to serve it.”

She announced plans to tackle diseases in native trees that could destroy UK landscapes and forestry.

And she was “well on the way” to cutting red tape for farmers, and had brought in a labelling scheme so people could be confident they were buying British food.

Her reputation was damaged by the fiasco over bids to sell off the nation’s forests, which triggered an embarrassing U-turn.

Labour claimed at last week’s conference to be the party of the countryside now, but Mrs Spelman used her speech to hit back.

She said Labour left the countryside with five post offices closing a week, unemployment rising at twice the rate of cities and a quarter of homes in poverty in some rural areas.