Opinion: Labour comment shows detachment from rural reality

It was odd to be told my evening plans were apparently part of a far-right fantasy that “never really existed”.

Jenny Riddell-Carpenter, Labour’s minister for rural affairs and nature, was speaking at the Labour Party conference about the way the far right romantically talks about the countryside.

She referred to the nostalgic image of a pint of ale in a pub, a Labrador at your feet and people sitting around surrounded by images of fox hunting.

See also: Georgina Mitchell-Jones – the double life of a farmer’s daughter

Apparently, this version of the countryside never really existed. Which was slightly awkward, because that evening, I had plans.

About the author

Georgina Mitchell-Jones

Georgina Mitchell-Jones, 24, graduated with an MA in Politics from the University of Edinburgh. A farmer’s daughter from south Leicestershire, she is particularly interested in the pressures shaping the next generation of farmers. She is an active member of Lutterworth Young Farmers’ Club, where she has been Treasurer for the past two years.

Read more articles by Georgina Mitchell-Jones

I was heading out with the Young Farmers to the local hunt yard, talking about hunting and, more importantly, the businesses, jobs and wider rural economy that surround it.

Then we were heading to the pub to celebrate a friend’s birthday over a few locally brewed ales.

And there was a dog. Granted, it was a Border terrier rather than a Labrador. So perhaps the minister had me there.

Canine complications aside, the comment smacks of a detachment from rural realities. I didn’t realise if I sit in a pub, drink an ale, talk about hunting and have a dog at my feet, I am suddenly participating in some sort of far-right rural cosplay.

The countryside is full of these things. Pubs. Dogs. Hunts. Young Farmers. Farming businesses. Village events. Local breweries. People talking about tractors, the weather and why the government has, once again, managed to misrepresent rural life.

And after a year in which farmers have had more than enough reason to be frustrated with Westminster, it is hardly surprising that the comment struck a nerve.

The mess around SFI applications and the rows over agricultural property relief, business property relief and inheritance tax have already left many farmers wondering whether anyone in government actually understands how family farms work.

Farmers have been let down by governments of different colours for years. But Labour has now managed to add something slightly different to the list: telling rural people that parts of their own culture don’t really exist.

That’s an impressive miscalculation. It signals, once again, the worrying distance between the people making decisions and the people those decisions affect.

And it begs the question: Perhaps the ministers that are making decisions for the countryside should spend a bit more time in it?

Not on a carefully organised visit or standing beside a tractor for the cameras, but actually talking to the people running farms, businesses and rural communities.

Riddell-Carpenter did at least acknowledge the stir her comments had caused, explaining in a self-penned piece for a newspaper that this was never her intention.

But the response fell conspicuously short on accountability, an unfortunate but familiar feature of political rebuttals to recent agricultural missteps.

And while some effort was made to clarify her position, I can’t help wondering whether it would have happened at all without the backlash. 

Rural life isn’t always glamorous or picture-perfect. But, contrary to what Riddell-Carpenter’s comments might suggest, I can assure her it exists in all its complicated glory: a kaleidoscope of families, businesses, economies and politics, bound together by culture, community and compassion.

It isn’t a convenient political talking point for mudslinging behind closed doors.

And yes, sometimes it involves a pint of ale and a dog under the table. Even if it’s a Border terrier, not a Labrador.