Messing With Farmers Is a Dangerous Game

Disturb a delicate ecosystem at your peril, particularly if it involves tractors. The UK’s five-month-old Labour government is unlikely to emerge without damage from a clash with farmers over its plans to impose inheritance taxes on farmsteads, which drew thousands of protesters to London last month. Across Europe, demonstrations by agricultural activists have invariably led to concessions — as well as gains for right-wing populists. That’s a troubling precedent.

For now, the British campaign remains genteel. Farmers haven’t used their machines to block roads or dump manure and rotting garbage, as in France, Germany and the Netherlands. It would be unwise to ignore the parallels, though. Rural discontent helped propel the rise of Marine Le Pen in France, the Alternative für Deutschland party in Germany and far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders. True to form, Nigel Farage, leader of the populist Reform party, turned up to the London protest kitted out in country attire of tweed cap, Barbour jacket and Wellington boots. Farage’s presence wasn’t universally welcomed. He’s never been a farmer, having entered the City of London as a commodities trader after leaving school, and was a driving force for Brexit, which made UK farmers materially poorer. Still, an opportunity has been sensed.