‘Turnip’ Steve Reed becomes the target for farmers’ tax protest

WALTER CRONXITE, political editor, on a new unwitting subject for a sharp parliamentary pen

The last time a national newspaper dismissed a public figure as a “turnip”, Graham Taylor’s days as England football manager were numbered.

Yesterday, it was Steve Reed OBE, the townie MP for Streatham and Croydon North, who was given the turnip treatment, this time not by The S*n, but by the gently incisive pen (or laptop) of Guardian parliamentary sketchwriter, John Crace.

It is Crace who has charted, with much mirth, the roller-coaster parliamentary career of Chris Philp, or “the nose in search of a bum”.

Now, as if having 10,000 farmers descend on Parliament Square baying for your blood was not bad enough, Reed has Crace on his case. Reed “won the turnip for his flailing defence of inheritance tax changes”, the standfirst to Crace’s dissection stated.

The farmers… well, billionaires and millionaires such as James Dyson, Jeremy Clarkson, Andrew Lloyd-Webber and the owner of the newspaper that in the 1930s backed Hitler, plus Nigel Farridge, have worked themselves up into a froth of indignation that a stonking great tax loophole has been closed, and that they might actually have to pay some tax on their really massive farms.

The inheritance tax measure, confirmed in the Budget at the start of the month, is likely to affect 4% of farmers, the government reckons. The National Farmers Union says otherwise.

Clarkson was quoted in his own newspaper as admitting he had bought his vast acreage in the Cotswolds specifically to dodge inheritance tax, but is now a poster boy for a campaign against a tax measure which sees farmers paying half the rate of inheritance tax that other property owners face. And even then, it is only on farms worth more than £1million – or £2million for couples.

Croydon South MP and shadow home secretary Philp – a senior politician who for reasons he fails to explain has never published his own tax returns – also popped up at the Whitehall demo, which delayed ambulances on their way to hospital and hard-working people on their way to work, and where barriers were destroyed by farmers driving tractors.

On this occasion, Philp escaped the attentions of Crace.

“It was a very civilised protest,” Crace wrote in The Grauniad. “The sort of protest you might expect from roughly 10,000 asset-rich, cash-poor millionaire farmers from all over the country… ‘What do we want? To not pay inheritance tax on our farms’. It had a ring.

“Whitehall has probably never seen so much tweed. Nigel Farage was out there looking like Mr Toad. Flat cap, pristine Barbour jacket, mustard trousers and green wellies. He never can resist a chance to cosplay… Nige is always willing to piggyback on other people’s grievances. Perhaps he might first like to explain why Brexit has hit farmers so hard.”

This was not a politically biased report. “Farmers tend to believe they have been screwed over by both the Tories and Labour,” Crace wrote, accurately.

Crace not only encountered the protestors, he also used his lobby pass to step inside the Palace of Westminster for a select committee hearing which, bad timing for Reed, was on rural affairs. Reed is the environment, farming and rural affairs secretary, which is not a brief to which he is obviously suited. Or booted.

“Central London blocked for a protest on your watch is never a good look,” Crace wrote. “And his afternoon was about to get a whole lot worse as he was due to make his first appearance before the DEFRA select committee.

“His first mistake was to arrive early and allow himself to be engaged in conversation with David Barton, a livestock farmer from Gloucestershire. Fair to say, Barton is one of many who think the government has got its maths wrong and that far more farmers will be caught under the new rules than had been predicted. Including Barton himself.

“‘Are you sure?’ said Reed. ‘You could always give it to your son.’ This was to prove to be a consistent theme throughout the afternoon. Reed would start by saying why the new tax measures had been necessary, only to then give suggestions on how the tax could be avoided. It was as if Steve had a split personality. Part cabinet minister, part moonlighting independent financial adviser.

“Even so, this cut no ice with Barton. Where was he supposed to live if he gave the farm to his son? Who knows? There must be an outbuilding somewhere…

“… Luckily for Steve, he got bailed out by an usher telling him the committee was about to start. He dashed in, flanked by two entirely mute DEFRA officials. Out of the frying pan.”

Crace then nailed the uneasy situation for Reed, who after 12 years as MP for Croydon North, since July seems to spend all his time in Streatham.

“The thing is, Reed’s heart just isn’t in the job. He never wanted to be DEFRA secretary. He represents Streatham and Croydon and has almost no interest in the countryside. He really fancied the justice brief.

“So he merely goes through the motions. Never really saying anything that suggests engagement. Or deep knowledge. There’s no malice here. He means well. But he’s nobody’s champion…”

Crace proceeded to outline some of the select committee’s questioning. “Round about now, you could see Steve’s head beginning to go down. Whatever the truth, the government had lost control of the narrative on this. None of this had been his idea. It had all been dumped on him by the Treasury at the last minute. All over a measly £500million. It would have been better if Rachel Reeves could just back down a bit. Show a bit of flexibility and raise the threshold to £5million. Get the farmers off his back.

“He was sick of telling the farmers they didn’t know what they were doing. Sick of being a loyal apparatchik.”

You have to wonder what the “brains” in the Downing Street organisation, Morgan McSweeney, Reed’s old pal from their Lambeth Council days, is making of all this.

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