IN a bid to persuade MPs to vote for the middle way and preserve hunting with dogs, Peter Luff turned to an unusual source of persuasion.

Greek mythology.

The bid was ultimately futile, with MPs booting out the middle way, which would allow hunting to continue under strict licence, by 371 votes to 169.

But he went down fighting, making one of the most high-minded of the many speeches delivered in a five-hour debate on the controversial topic.

He told MPs: "Scylla, as honourable members will remember, was a horrible six-headed monster who lived on a rock on one side of a narrow strait, and Charybdis was a whirlpool on the other side.

When ships passed close to Scylla's rock in order to avoid Charybdis, she-the-monster would seize and devour the sailors.

Aeneas, Jason and Odysseus all had to pass through the narrow strait, and when they passed, they were not engaging in some soggy compromise or refusing to take some braver, nobler path; they were taking the only safe path, a middle way, and one that demanded great courage and skill.

Peter was greeted with many blank faces, as some MPs struggled to reconcile his words with their long-held views on hunting with dogs.

But one of his Labour counterparts was up to the test.

Colin Pickthall said: I gently remind the honourable member for Mid-Worcestershire that after negotiating Scylla and Charybdis, Odysseus and his men were confronted by the sirens.

The sirens, he may recall, were beautiful and sang beautifully but were surrounded by piles of bones from previous travellers the siren voices of compromise, I suggest.

Meanwhile, Peter's speech also threw up one other interesting fact. He is a Chelsea fan.

He and former Sports Minister Tony Banks are sworn enemies on the issue of hunting with Mr Banks the most vocal supporter of a ban in the Commons.

But Mr Luff told MPs they have at least one thing in common. A love of London's most glamorous but underachieving football team (my words, not his).