It has also been signed by Marc Abraham, a vet, Tracy Edwards, the British sailor who sailed around the world, Vanessa-Mae, the violinist, Johnny Marr, the guitarist from The Smiths, and comedians Ricky Gervais, Romesh Ranganathan, Jon Richardson and Josh Widdicombe.

Abigail Penny, executive director of Animal Equality UK, said: “The Government had no such concerns about personal choice when halting imports of elephant ivory, dog and cat meat, seal fur and whale meat.

“It is already a recognised crime to produce foie gras made by force-feeding in the UK, so to continue to import and profit from this cruelty is entirely unjustifiable. To backtrack at this stage would be a travesty.”

The Conservative 2019 manifesto pledged to protect animals, stating to do so was necessary in “a civilised society”. 

A spokesman for the Government said it was “committed” to upholding world-leading standards in animal welfare.

She added: “The production of foie gras from ducks or geese using force-feeding is rightly banned in the UK as it is incompatible with our own welfare standards and fur farming has been banned in the UK for 20 years.

“Through our Action Plan for Animal Welfare, we have committed to building a clear evidence base to inform decisions on the import or sale of foie gras, but no decisions have yet been made.”