The new shadow farming minister Kerry McCarthy has been mocking media and industry stereotyping of her vegan lifestyle and principles.
An outspoken critic of the meat industry, McCarthy believes livestock farming contributes to world hunger by using crops as animal feed, rather than to feed humans. She has also campaigned against the over use of antibiotics in agriculture and been a vocal opponent of the badger cull policy.
When the Bristol East MP was given the shadow DEFRA role by the new Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn there was an outcry from parts of the farming industry and countryside groups.
The NFU reminded McCarthy of the “huge value” to jobs and the economy created by livestock farming, while the Countryside Alliance suggested there was a disconnect between the view of the MP and those she would have to work with. Ukip’s agriculture spokesman Stuart Agnew, told Farmers Weekly: “Kerry McCarthy will have little in common with either the producers or consumers of food”. Other farmers, posting on social media, called her views “extremist” and said she represented the “loony left”.
But McCarthy has batted off the criticisms. Speaking to the broadcaster Adrian Chiles about reactions to her appointment (clip via Gaia Fawkes), she said: “I did say to Jeremy when he offered me the job that I was a vegan, and that would be an issue. But if you think Al Gore, Bill Gates and Bill Clinton are vegan – these are pretty rational people aren’t they? If some people want to see it as a throwback to the old beards and sandals left, they can, but I don’t have a beard and I’m not wearing sandals”.
