Former Top Gear Host Jeremy Clarkson Lashes Out at UK Government and Labour Party
The 64-year-old former TV presenter has been a vocal critic of the Starmer government and Finance Minister Rachel Reeves for months. In a column for The Times, he expressed his disdain for the current government, singling out the priorities of the young generation in particular.
Clarkson referenced polls showing that half of 18- to 27-year-olds in the UK are not proud of their country. “I’m with them. I wouldn’t do it either” he wrote, expressing a sense of resignation. He also noted that 41 percent of the same age group said they would not be willing to defend the country in the event of an attack and instead of condemning this view, he showed understanding for it.
Clarkson was not sparing in his criticism of Starmer, writing, “I would prefer any other world leader to the idiot we have now.” He even went so far as to say that he would welcome a foreign power taking over the UK, calling it a “better option.”
In his column, Clarkson listed the leaders he would prefer to Starmer, including Donald Trump, Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and even Vladimir Putin, a statement that sparked a scandal in the British media. Despite the ongoing Ukraine war, the former Top Gear host was unafraid to speak his mind.
Clarkson’s dislike of the Labour government has mainly economic reasons, with the planned abolition of inheritance tax exemptions for farmers, in particular, causing him outrage. As the owner of Diddly Squat Farm and the star of the successful Amazon series Clarkson’s Farm, the presenter sees the policy as a direct attack on the British farming industry.
In his column for The Sun, he labelled the Labour government as “Marxists” who “want to own and control everything.” He warned that Labour would “ethnically cleanse” the countryside by building “new cities for immigrants” and replacing classic farms with massive solar parks.
Starmer had recently argued on Sky News that many voters would prefer a reduction in farm subsidies if it led to a reduction in NHS waiting lists, a statement that Clarkson saw as further proof of the government’s “destructive power.