A Conservative councillor and Labour mayor found some unlikely common ground over Labradors and trips to the pub during a North Yorkshire council meeting today.
Councillor Simon Myers raised the plight of his young Labrador Jacob when questioning York and North Yorkshire Mayor David Skaith at a meeting of the Skipton and Ripon Area Committee.
The light-hearted exchange followed comments by Labour nature minister Jenny Riddell-Carpenter at the party’s conference in Liverpool earlier this week.
Speaking at a fringe event, the Suffolk Coastal MP warned about the “far-right” shaping perceptions of rural Britain, referring to a nostalgic image involving “warm ale” and “a black Labrador by your feet in a pub”.
Her remarks have since attracted criticism from some rural groups and political opponents.
Cllr Myers, a Conservative executive member on North Yorkshire Council, told Mr Skaith the comments had caused some consternation at home:
“The Labour Party conference and some of the reported comments of ministers have given Jacob, my young Labrador, much cause for concern.
“It seems that rural Labradors who may occasionally take their owners to the pub — and there are tens of thousands of them across North Yorkshire — are now being categorised by ministers of the Crown as far-right.
“Jacob was very concerned that he isn’t mistaken for a Jack Russell terrier who may have very questionable political views.”
Cllr Myers asked the Labour mayor if he would distance himself from comments which, he said, appeared to characterise rural England as “full of far-right people”.
He added that he hoped Mr Skaith would similarly reject rhetoric from those on the political right who described people who disagreed with them as “traitors”.
It turned out Cllr Myers was not the only politician at the meeting whose Labrador was familiar with the inside of a pub.
Mr Skaith said:
“As I get taken by my 13-year-old black Labrador, an ex-working dog, to my local pub on a very regular basis, I don’t associate myself with that terminology.
“As a proud North Yorkshireman all my life, and having represented this county for the last couple of years, I love everything about it and I don’t associate with that terminology.
“I don’t know where that has come from, frankly.”
The mayor then struck a more serious note, warning about increasingly divisive political debate.
He said:
“I think we are in a very angry, divisive place right now, and I think we all have a duty of care as representatives of our areas to work with one another and be respectful.
“We may have disagreements on things from time to time. We are human beings.
“But we’ve seen tensions growing across the county in certain areas, and I do not wish to have that in my county, and I don’t think anyone around this table does either.”
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