James May has invited Labour ministers for a drink (Image: TWITTER (X))
While ‘s co-star has banned ministers from visiting his pub – a decision taken before the new inheritance tax rules were even introduced – James says he’d invite them to his for a pint.
The gin entrepreneur and TV star co-owns The Royal Oak, a pub in the tiny Wiltshire village of Swallowcliffe. It’s one of just two public buildings there, with those needing a GP, shops or a post office having to head three miles down the road to Tisbury.
However, James believes that his shares in the remote rural pub have given him an insight into what farmers might be experiencing. He spoke up in one response to one fuming tweeter, who exclaimed: “Every Labour politician also needs to be banned from every pub, cafe and restaurant and farmers market stall holders need to refuse to serve them. Blacklist the b******s!”
However, James shot back: “As the (part) owner of a rural pub, I disagree. I’d love to have government ministers in for a pint. I believe the locals would have some interesting questions for them.”
“It would make for a very lively debate – you could also give them some of your new gin,” one follower suggested. “That’d be a sell-out night, James!” quipped another.
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Rachel Reeves’ budget has proved unpopular for farmers (Image: GETTY)
A third chimed in: “My uncle believed and taught me that even extreme disagreement is better discussed to obtain understanding and respect instead of hatred for what we might fear, and you find that you have more in common than you might think.”
However, another mischievous commentator quipped that the conversation should take place before “inviting them to be put in the stocks on the village green”.
Meanwhile, James has admitted to being sceptical about Rachel Reeves’ decision to impose inheritance tax on owners of farms valued at more than £1 million.
The rules had previously allowed landowners to avoid the tax altogether, with once advising that it was a good “investment”.
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Jeremy Clarkson at the London farmers’ protest on Tuesday (Image: PA)
“I’m trying to follow the great farming debate but, as an economics illiterate, I’m baffled. If a farm has a nominal value of, say, £3m but generates an income of only c. £40k, how can it really be worth that much?” James quizzed.
He added that it wasn’t a “loaded question” but that he was genuinely “interested” in the answer.
One follower quipped in reply: “How else will we cover the countryside with endless rows of tower blocks to house ‘asylum seekers’?”
James’ former The Grand Tour co-star Jeremy has been more vociferous in his dislike of Labour, as the owner of Diddly Squat Farm.
The star against doctors’ orders following his major heart surgery, where he begged the government to “back down” on their latest decision.