Nigel Farage was left out of the line-up of political leaders who spoke at the farmers’ protest outside Downing Street, amid concerns over his divisive role in Brexit and fears he would overshadow the event.
Representatives of all parties were originally invited to speak, according to organisers of a protest at which tens of thousands of farmers listened to Kemi Badenoch, Ed Davey and other speakers, including the journalist Jeremy Clarkson.
However, the Guardian understands that while the Reform UK leader was initially considered, organisers omitted him from the line-up because they did not want the protest to become the “Nigel Farage show”.
Farmers wanted the event to be as unpolitical as possible because they wanted to give the Labour government a chance to change its mind on the highly unpopular changes to inheritance tax that mean farmers with assets over £1m will be subject to a 20% levy.
They were also concerned Farage’s presence would be divisive, after Brexit resulted in trade deals with Australia and New Zealand that undercut farmers, and cuts to subsidies.
A source close to Farage claimed the organisers had been “bullied” by the Tories, whose leader brought her shadow environment, food and rural affairs team on stage to say they were the people who would “fight” for farmers.
The source added: “Despite winning more votes at the election than the Liberal Democrats, and a long record of support for rural communities, the organisers excluded Nigel from speaking from the platform yesterday.
“He supported the protest by streaming to his 2.1 million followers on X instead. What the organisers are really saying is they were bullied by the Conservative party.”
When asked about Farage being invited to the event, Olly Harrison, a farmer and one of the organisers, had said: “The event is non-political.
“We have invited representatives of all political parties to speak and we don’t want our event used for political point-scoring. We want it focused on the farmers and the troubles we are facing at the moment.”
Farage was left off the line-up after discussion among organisers, some of whom were also concerned Labour might use his presence as a reason not to engage with farmers.
“Nigel was not invited by event organisers who wanted Labour, Tory and Lib Dems to speak but not the Reform leader,” said a spokesperson for him. Instead, Farage, clad in a tweed flat cap and Barbour jacket moved around in the crowd, where he was cheered and clapped on the back by some.
“Brexit is barely relevant, other than the fact that we are in charge of our own agricultural policy. It is tax that has brought them together today,” he told the Politics Joe platform.
Farmers at the event included Jeremy Squirrell, a Suffolk arable and poultry farmer, who said he would have “frogmarched” Farage and others including the former Sun columnist Katie Hopkins “off the site”, adding: “They taint our just cause with conspiracy, lies, hateful comments and deceit.”
The sheep farmer Sarah Shuffell said Farage’s presence was a “PR car crash for farming”.
When asked about Farage being uninvited, a spokesperson for the organisers said: “The organisers had taken into consideration many offers of contributing. As an event, we wanted to offer an olive branch to government to open dialogue. The ministers from government were invited, but declined.”
