Labour minister claims that visions of Britain based on warm ale, pubs, and black labradors are a 'far-Right' fantasy that 'never really existed'

See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source Published: 13:24 EDT, 28 September 2026 | Updated: 13:48 EDT, 28 September 2026 A Labour minister has said that visions of Britain based on warm ale, pubs and black labradors are a 'far-Right' fantasy that 'never really existed'.Jenny Riddell-Carpenter, who was appointed nature minister in July, told a fringe meeting at the party's conference that she fears the far-Right will launch a battle at the next election using this supposed fantasy.She said she is kept 'awake at night' thinking about how the far-right will weaponise the countryside at the next election.Ms Riddell-Carpenter told party members: 'This is one of the things I do stay awake at night about, and think about, and fear.'One of them is that if we don't make the case for nature, for rural communities, and what we believe rural communities look like, I do believe that the next election is going to be fought on a battle line of nature and rural affairs.'And there'll be the far-Right deciding and determining what that looks like.'It'll be a vision, a nostalgic vision of Britain, that never really existed.'It'll be that warm ale, a black Labrador by your feet in a pub that doesn't exist, and with symbolism of fox hunting all around them, it'll be a very far-Right nostalgic vision of Britain that we don't want to have, [and] never really existed.' Jenny Riddell-Carpenter made the bizarre claim during a fringe meeting at Labour's Liverpool conference today She claimed that visions of a countryside based around pubs, warm ale and black labradors 'never really existed' Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake demanded an apology, saying the Conservatives would 'always stand up for rural Britain' The Suffolk Coastal MP added that Labour would fight for a 'progressive vision for the countryside' as they attempt to take on the far-Right.Despite Ms Riddell-Carpenter's claim that the Labrador and warm ale vision of Britain has never existed, official figures suggest otherwise.Around 9.5million people live in rural settlements, according to the 2021 Census, amounting to around 17 per cent of the population.According to official registers, the labrador was the most registered dog breed in the UK last year, with nearly 30,000 fresh additions to the Royal Kennel Club's records, making it the most popular in the country, and nearly four times more popular than the French bulldog.And while Labour is attempting a fresh crackdown on trail hunting, threatening up to 1,000 jobs in the countryside, it continues to bring £100million into the rural economy every year, according to the Countryside Alliance.Ms Riddell-Carpenter's outburst in Liverpool sparked a furious rebuke from the Conservative Party Chairman.Kevin Hollinrake, who represents the picturesque rural seat of Thirsk and Malton in North Yorkshire, told the Daily Mail: 'Labour think the countryside, the pub, the dog and the people who love them are far-Right.'Labour is taxing the pub out of existence, as part of a sustained attack on the countryside, with almost two closing every day. That is a far more pressing cause of insomnia.'Conservatives will always stand up for rural Britain, for the pub, the farm, the countryside, and most importantly, the people who keep them going.'Andy Burnham should make his minister apologise to every one of them.'