Ex-Labour adviser John McTernan references Thatcher in farming debate - it does not end well

In seeking to defend Labour’s planned reforms to inheritance tax, which has been slammed for its impact on farmers, ex-Labour adviser John McTernan decided to reference the controversial former prime minister Margaret Thatcher – and that went about as well as you’d expect.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves continues to face criticism over the changes - which will see combined business and agricultural assets above £1 million subject to tax, with 50 per cent relief at an effective rate of 20 per cent – with an event planned in London for next Wednesday for farmers to voice their opposition to the plans.

Jeremy Clarkson - of Top Gear, The Grand Tour and Clarkson’s Farm fame – has also objected to the inheritance tax reforms, writing on the day of Reeves’ first budget that farmers had been “shafted”.

He later accused Labour of planning to “ethnically cleanse farmers from the countryside”.

Now, appearing on GB News on Monday night, McTernan has fanned the flames of the debate a bit further.

When asked by host Patrick Christys if Labour had managed to “alienate” those in their rural seats, he replied: “No, because most people in rural seats aren’t farmers, but those who are farmers and small farmers won’t actually be affected by this change. This is a change clamping down on tax avoidance.

“I’m personally in favour of doing to farmers, who want to go on the streets, we can do to them what Margaret Thatcher did to the miners.”

Pressed further on his comments by Christys, McTernan added: “This is an industry we can do without.”

Christys responded: “OK, alright, this just got weird, so you would do to farmers what Margaret Thatcher did to miners, which was very heavy-handed police tactics, followed by what, putting them out of business?”

McTernan replied: “If people are so upset, that they want to go in the streets and spray slurry on them, then we don’t need the small farmers.”

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

One such example of “heavy-handed” policing amid the miners’ strike was the so-called Battle of Orgreave, which saw thousands of police officers clash with pickets outside a coking plant in Sheffield.

A report from the Orgeave Truth and Justice Campaign on the violent 1984 incident was published earlier this year, with campaigners saying it confirms Thatcher and her government “were influencing the miners’ strike and policing, while publicly stating a policy of ‘non-involvement’”.

Meanwhile, the closure of coal mines which sparked the strike in the 80s went ahead, and hundreds of thousands left the coal industry, according to research from Sheffield Hallam University cited by BBC News.

McTernan’s remarks have since been branded “disgraceful” by campaign group No Farmers, No Food, with politicians including Nigel Farage and commentators also expressing their anger:

Even Labour backers and self-described socialists have criticised the former adviser’s comments:

Sir Keir Starmer was asked about McTernan’s suggestion and the claim that small farming is an “industry we can do without” in Baku, Azerbaijan on Tuesday, and the prime minister and Labour leader responded by saying he “totally [disagrees]” with the remarks.

“I am absolutely committed to supporting our farmers. I said that before the election, and I’ll say it after the election. That is why in our budget last week, I was very pleased that we’re investing £5 billion of our budget over the next three years in parliament.

“That is really important for our farmers, and I will do everything I can to support them, because I think it’s essential that they not only prosper, but prosper well into the future, so I totally disagree with those comments,” he said.

It’s not the first time that McTernan has shocked GB News presenters, as back in August he was told by Martin Daubney that it was “contemptible” for him to label people taking part in the UK riots this summer as “racist”.

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