Keir Starmer’s callous answers on farm tax show why his government is failing
The Prime Minister’s response on being told farmers with terminal illnesses were considering end their lives early to avoid Labour’s new inheritance tax on farms showed a startling lack of empathy
How would you react if you were told that as a result of your government’s policy on farm inheritance tax, farmers who have terminal diagnoses are now “actively planning” to expedite their own deaths?
Shock and concern would surely be the natural, human response. We are talking about people’s lives here, after all. I suspect that even ChatGPT, however, could have done better than the Prime Minister’s chosen reply this week at the House of Commons Liaison Committee: “I have had discussions with a number of individuals who have drawn all manner of things to my attention.”
As empathy goes, it sits somewhere between a brick wall and a cold fish. This may be just the latest example of his government’s lack of emotional intelligence, but Keir Starmer’s callous answers about the farm inheritance tax show exactly why he and his ministers are failing on all fronts.
Lack of respect for colleagues and critics
Whether it is Starmer’s answers to the Liaison Committee, his cackhanded firing and rehiring of Ian Murray in the autumn, or the chaos over Labour rebellions in the summer, the recurring theme is this Labour government’s complete lack of emotional intelligence. Those at the top of government lack respect for voters, for political opposition – and even for their own party colleagues.
If you want to understand the character of a government, you would be wise to look at how they treat their friends, just as much as their enemies. People across the Scottish political spectrum were baffled when Murray was sacked as Secretary of State for Scotland without explanation. This week it emerged that, months on, he still had not been told why he was given the boot. That is political malpractice of the most basic kind.
I would be the last to cite Tony Blair as a model of perfect government but this is something that he got right. Former minister Chris Smith has talked about how, when he was sacked in the New Labour days, he was spoken to directly and fairly by Blair himself. It is simple emotional intelligence but it makes a difference.
Blair’s ‘masochism strategy’
Even in the less-than-halcyon days of 2005, when the shine had well and truly come off New Labour, Blair took the emotionally intelligent decision to meet people where they were as part of the so-called “masochism strategy” – taking criticism head on and winning (grudging) plaudits for it. That is what you can achieve when you have intellectual confidence in your policies and a willingness to engage.
Starmer, however, seems to lack both the intellectual and ideological confidence to defend his policies, and the emotional intelligence needed to bring people onside.
The debate on farm inheritance tax has brought out all the worst qualities of this government: lack of empathy, dismissal of legitimately held concerns, and complete lack of respect both for political opponents and critical Labour voices. It is a toxic combination – and it will lead to more rebellions and more defeats for the government before long.
As I put it to the Prime Minister while summing up at the Liaison Committee, he does not have to listen to me, nor to the farmers out in the countryside – but why does he not at least listen to his own party?
Alistair Carmichael is the Scottish Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland
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