SEVEN-YEAR-OLD Sherston schoolboy Roddy Seymour-Williams presented a pro-hunting petition to 10 Downing Street on Monday, collected during a 24-hour vigil in London by the Beaufort Hunt.

Roddy, of Farleaze Farm, handed over the petition to a policeman at 10.30am on Monday, after his father Jonathan, 47, spent 12 hours camping outside Number 10.

Mr Seymour-Williams, who hunts sometimes twice a week, was in London as part of a campaign by the Countryside Alliance.

Hunts from across Britain are taking it in turns to camp outside Downing Street for 24 hours to get their message across.

Mr Seymour-Williams, an ex-farmer who now runs a business in Didmarton making fly screens, said his son was unfazed by having to hand over the signatures.

He explained that Roddy wanted to present the petition: "Having been brought up in the country he is very keen on his hunting and is keen that it should continue," he said.

Mr Seymour-Williams has previous links with Number 10, having been at St John's College at Oxford University with Tony Blair between 1972-75. "He was someone with whom I was acquainted during my time at Oxford but I don't know if he knew I was in Downing Street on Sunday," he said.

Antony Brassey, the chairman of the Beaufort Hunt, was outside Number 10 on Sunday and Monday morning.

He said he was confident the vigil had made a point. "The aim of the vigil and the petition was to get our message across to politicians that a hunting ban will have a negative impact upon animal welfare and will not benefit the fox in any way, and will also hurt ordinary people," he said.