The Mendip Farmers' Hunt says Tony Blair's claim to regret the ban on fox hunting makes the repeal of the act even more important.

Former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair's admission in his memoirs that he regrets the fox hunting ban (although not the Iraq war) has not appeased hunt supporters.

He claims he was ignorant about the sport and underestimated public feeling about it so ended up ensuring the Hunting Act was "a masterly British compromise" that left enough loopholes to allow hunting to continue.

Blair wrote: "The passions aroused by the issue were primeval. If I'd proposed solving the pension problem by compulsory euthanasia of every fifth pensions I'd have got less trouble. By the end of it, I felt like the damn fox."

Mendip Farmers' Hunt's master of hounds Richard Standing said: "We knew it was bad law at the time. Admitting it was wrong doesn't make it any better and makes the repeal even more important."

The Countryside Alliance has made a derisive response to Blair's claims on its website saying: "This was not 'a masterly British compromise' it was a craven retreat from evidence and logic for short term political ends.

"Tony Blair's re-writing of history is not going to fool anyone. He, and he alone, was responsible for the rejection of the 'middle way' proposals for licensed hunting and the passing of a complete ban on all hunting."

"A compromise was on the table, but by bringing back the Hunting Bill as a complete ban in a timetable that allowed the Parliament Acts to be used he created one of the most illiberal, ineffective and wasteful laws of modern times. The fact that he knew what he was doing was wrong makes his actions more reprehensible, not less."

Tony Blair's book became the fastest-selling autobiography ever when it was released on September 1. Hundreds of thousands of copies were sold in the first 24 hours. A Journey went straight to number one on Amazon. co.uk's British bestseller list.