EXPOSED: Labour activist who championed farm tax raid U-TURNS stating Reeves' hike ‘hits farmers too hard’

The move sparked fury and despair as many cash-poor but asset-rich farms would be saddled with a huge tax bill in the event of a death which they could not afford out of farm income.

A huge row ensued between leading rural groups and the Treasury over how many farms would be affected.

The former believed it would hit about 60per cent of farms, and the latter stated it would be below 500.

On October 31, Neidle said there had been: “Lots of over-the-top coverage right now about the £1m cap on inheritance tax agricultural property relief.”

He suggested 87 per cent of farms would remain exempt from inheritance tax, and “possibly as few as 100” would be affected per year.

The Bristol University graduate, who has attached Akshata Murty and Nadhim Zahawi over their tax affairs, then advised that: “Anyone youngish, in good health, who's worried about IHT should just buy lift insurance.”

For large farms worth millions, he said it was reasonable to expect them to be able to pay the tax.

“The dire predictions I'm reading don't seem very realistic,” he added.

Since Neidle made his claims, the farming community has passionately demonstrated its need for inheritance tax relief, holding a mass rally in central London on November 19.

And in a satisfying turn of events for rural folk, Neidle’s eyes appear to have been opened to the cruelty Reeves’ policy is set to inflict on an industry already on its knees, though he is arguing new data has since come to light.

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Tim Bonner, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, said: “The Treasury’s chief cheerleader Dan Neidle executing a rapid reverse ferret on the #FamilyFarmTax

“Who would have known that farmers might have understood the economics of farming?’

In a blow to Labour, Neidle is now advising the government raise the cap for inheritance tax to £20 million, a whopping £19million more than the original cap of £1million he originally championed.

He explained: “Raise the cap dramatically (say to £20m) so that only the largest and most sophisticated farm businesses become subject to IHT (which they can fund through finance or selling part of the business).

“But then create a "clawback". If you inherit a farm free of inheritance tax and then sell it, the IHT magically reappears. (This isn't a new concept. There are lots of similar rules in other taxes).”

Steve Reed, the Defra Secretary, and Chancellor Reeves will now be working out how to respond to one of their key cheerleaders admitting the raid will affect too many ordinary, hardworking farmers.