A convoy of tractors has arrived in Westminster as Jeremy Clarkson prepares to join thousands of farmers for a protest against Labour’s hated inheritance tax raid.
The 64-year-old is expected to defy the advice of his doctors to ‘avoid stress’ while recovering from a life-saving heart operation by joining his Clarkson’s Farm co-star Kaleb Cooper at the rally.
During a separate event today, the National Union of Farmers chief Tom Bradshaw broke down in tears while telling a hall full of farmers that they had received a ‘stab in the back’.
‘You know what this means for our families, our children and our farms,’ he told the audience at Church House in Westminster.
With his voice breaking with emotion, he continued: ‘It is wrong. It is wrong on every level. Just as bad as that it won’t achieve what the Treasury set out to achieve. This is a policy that will rip the heart out of the British family farm.’
Finishing his speech, he received a standing ovation and was followed onto the stage by a group of farmers holding up a banner reading: ‘The family farm tax’.
It follows an extraordinary intervention from tech billionaire Elon Musk, who last night accused Sir Keir administration of ‘going full Stalin’ against British farmers.
The Prime Minister has said that he understands changes to inheritance tax are ‘causing concern’ for farmers but insisted ‘the vast majority of farms’ will not be affected.
Speaking at the G20 summit in Brazil on Monday, he said: ‘On the question inheritance tax, look I do understand that it’s causing concern.
‘But if you take a typical case of a couple wanting to pass a family farm down to one of their children, which would be a very typical example, with all of the thresholds in place, that’s £3 million before any inheritance tax is paid.’
‘And that’s why I’m confident that the vast majority of farms and farmers will not be affected at all by that aspect of the budget.’
Clarkson told The Sun: ‘I will be there’, along with Charlie Ireland and Cooper.
After being shown an opinion poll saying he is more trusted than the PM, the Chancellor and new Tory Leader Kemi Badenoch, he joked: ‘I’d become an MP – but if I am paying inheritance tax I could not afford to take the pay cut.’
Proceedings are expected to begin with a ‘Mass Lobby’ by 1,800 members of the NFU at Church House.
But it will be followed by a protest rally from 11am which will see an estimated 10,000-20,000 independent farmers gathering in Whitehall to listen to speakers including broadcaster Jeremy Clarkson who has been outspoken on rural issues.
The protesters will later march to Parliament Square, symbolically led by children on toy tractors.
The protests come after tax changes announced in the budget mean from April 2026 farmers will have pay 20 per cent inheritance tax on farms worth more than £1million – although this rises to £3million if farmers take advantage of additional tax relief measures.
Although the rate is half the 40 per cent rate paid by ordinary members of the public, farmers argue farms will have to be broken up or sold to pay death duties.
One of the protest rally’s organisers, Clive Bailye ((CRCT)), founder of The Farming Forum website, warned of strikes, blockades and go-slows if ministers fail to pay attention to farmers’ anger.
‘There’s a lot of militancy in the farming community over this,’ said Mr Bailye, a Staffordshire arable farmer.
‘If we don’t get anything out of Tuesday’s rally I can see things getting bad very fast.
‘If the next generation can’t afford to continue with the farming way of life then they’ve got nothing to lose. That makes them very dangerous – farmers have got the ability to cause economic chaos.
‘We’ve seen how European farmers have managed to get their governments to change policy. Talk of a farmers’ strike is really gathering momentum, and you could see blockades or go-slow protests.’
He added: ‘If farmers tip away their own milk, they’re the ones who lost out the most – but if they feel they’re going to go out of business then they may go ahead anyway.
‘But we don’t want to cause disruption to the public because at the moment they’re on the side of farmers.’
He stressed campaigners were not demanding a full U-turn, but wanted to meet ministers to discuss how to avoid the predicted crippling impact on family-owned farms.
Meanwhile, NFU president Mr Bradshaw will accuse the government today of betraying farmers – with the tax changes affecting some 68 per cent of farmers rather than a tiny minority.
Mr Bradshaw will say: ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen the industry this angry, this disillusioned and this upset. And given what we’ve had to be angry about in recent years that’s saying something.’
He will add: ‘To launch a policy this destructive without speaking to anyone involved in farming beggars belief.
‘And let us remember that they promised not to do this when they were wooing the rural vote. It’s not only been bungled in delivery, it’s also nothing short of a stab in the back.’
Environment Secretary Steve Reed inflamed farmers further yesterday by telling farmers to ‘check the facts’ before they protest.
Mr Reed said: ‘I know change can cause uncertainty, but if farmers check the facts they’ll see this change is fair and proportionate for everyone.’
The MP for Streatham and Croydon North added: ‘Around 40 per cent of the value of this tax loophole has gone to just 7 per cent of landowners. It’s become the most effective way for the super-rich to avoid paying their inheritance tax – and it’s costing other taxpayers a whopping £200m a year.’
Gareth Wyn Jones, a Welsh farmer who has been leading calls for a strike, said he would stop supplying his sheep and cattle for a week from today.
He predicted shortages of bread, milk and eggs in the coming weeks if ministers don’t agree to negotiations.
‘If Labour were supporting British agriculture then ministers wouldn’t be having to make contingency plans.
He added: ‘He [Keir Starmer] needs to be shown what happens if his Government bites the hand that feeds it.
‘We need to show the Government that if we’re not going to listen, we will turn off the taps of food production.’
Phil Vickery, a member of the 2003 England World Cup-winning rugby team and Cornish dairy farmer, said: ‘Keir Starmer is destroying the future of our farmers and their families.’
Downing Street has refused to be drawn into a row with Elon Musk over comments on X that Britain is ‘going full Stalin’ in its approach to farmers.
The businessman, who will advise Donald Trump’s incoming US administration, shared a screenshot of a Guardian article titled ‘Farmers have hoarded land for too long. Inheritance tax will bring new life to rural Britain’.
The billionaire’s claim appears to refer to Soviet leader Joseph Stalin’s forced collectivisation of once privately owned farms – leading to the starvation and death of millions.
Rachel Reeves defended the policy yesterday, saying it was a ‘difficult decision’ aimed at plugging funding gaps – and so that ‘the wealthier estates and most valuable farms pay their fair share’.
Last night there were fears far-right sympathisers would try and hijack the rally for their own ends – who the organisers said were not welcome.
Paul Thorpe, a far-right YouTuber, published a video message urged his followers to join the protest, stating: ‘I’ll be there to support our farming community and I hope as many of you patriots will be there too.’
Meanwhile eco-protesters Just Stop Oil hit back at recent claims by Jeremy Clarkson that ‘It seems if you are from Just Stop Oil or protesting about Gaza you can do what you want’ – pointing out there are currently 40 JSO and Palestine Action activists involved in street protests currently in jail.