A Labour minister has provoked a political backlash after describing a nostalgic vision of rural Britain centred on pubs, warm ale and black Labradors as a “far-right” fantasy that “never really existed”.
Jenny Riddell-Carpenter, the nature minister and MP for Suffolk Coastal, told a fringe event at Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool that she feared the countryside could become a defining political battleground at the next general election.
She warned that failing to set out Labour’s own vision for rural communities could allow the political right to shape the debate.
“This is one of the things I do stay awake at night about, and think about, and fear,” she said.
“And there’ll be the far-right deciding and determining what that looks like.”
Riddell-Carpenter said she feared an electoral narrative based on an idealised version of British rural life.
“It’ll be a vision, a nostalgic vision of Britain, that never really existed,” she said.
“It’ll be that warm ale, a black Labrador by your feet in a pub that doesn’t exist, and with symbolism of fox hunting all around them, it’ll be a very far-right nostalgic vision of Britain that we don’t want to have, [and] never really existed.”
The minister said Labour would instead promote its own “progressive vision for the countryside”.
Her comments drew criticism from James Price, a former No 10 adviser, who accused Labour of treating aspects of British identity as extremist.
“Everything you care about is far-right or racist or never existed, apparently,” he wrote on social media.
“Never ever forget that they hate you and they hate this country.”
Kevin Hollinrake, Conservative Party chairman, also attacked the remarks, arguing that Labour had misunderstood the significance of rural communities and their institutions.
“Labour think the countryside, the pub, the dog and the people who love them are far-right,” he told the Mail.
He argued that the decline of pubs posed a more immediate concern, claiming that “almost two” were closing each day, and called on Prime Minister Andy Burnham to seek an apology from Riddell-Carpenter.
The dispute comes as Labour attempts to rebuild its relationship with farmers and rural voters.
Daniel Zeichner, who served in the previous Labour government, recently warned that ministers had failed to understand the political consequences of agricultural tax changes.
The inheritance tax rules, introduced in April, impose a 20 per cent rate on agricultural properties above £2.5mn.
“I think the problem is that there probably weren’t people close enough to the discussion who knew enough about rural areas and farming to know what the response would be,” Zeichner told The Telegraph.
“They looked at it from a tax point of view, rather than understanding the politics.”
The latest dispute highlights the political sensitivity of Labour’s attempt to develop a new rural agenda while confronting a countryside increasingly anxious about taxation, public services and its cultural identity.
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