The RSPCA has logged a complaint with the Press Complaints Commission against the Daily Telegraph for what it calls factually incorrect and politically motivated coverage of the charity’s successful prosecution of the Heythrop Hunt.

The RSPCA hit the headlines when a cross-party group of politicians put pressure on the Charity Commission to investigate the charity’s prosecution of a hunt which resides in Prime Minister David Cameron’s Oxfordshire constituency.

The Charity Commission met with the RPSCA last week and said there would be no investigation of the charity and that its prosecutions were not a matter of regulatory concern.

However, the RPSCA has complained to the Press Complaints Commission that the Daily Telegraph has published stories claiming that the RSPCA has broken charity rules over the successful prosecution of a hunt and that the charity was warned about hunt prosecutions by the Charity Commission.

The Daily Telegraph has covered the Heythrop Hunt prosecution in a number of articles, which include criticisms of the charity’s £320,000 spend on the prosecution and voicing concerns that the charity has “lost its way”.

In a statement this week, the RSPCA complains that the articles “show a clear support for the political agenda of the Countryside Alliance in seeking the return of blood sports”.

Gavin Grant (pictured), chief executive of the RSPCA, said: “These stories are a sustained attack on the RSPCA. The facts are that we have always and will continue to only act in the interests of the animals. We simply want the truth to be heard. The Daily Telegraph is entitled to its editorial position in support of blood sports despite the overwhelming public rejection of that view.

"They are not entitled to produce factually inaccurate articles that smear the good name of the RSPCA.”

The Daily Telegraph did not respond to enquiries.