Jeremy Clarkson: I would be a terrible political leader

TV presenter’s appearance at farmers’ protest sparked calls for him to enter politics

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Jeremy Clarkson has claimed he would be a “terrible political leader” amid calls for him to enter politics.
The TV presenter was lauded as the “political hero the country is crying out for” in the aftermath of the farmers’ protest earlier this week.
But Clarkson has now poured cold water on the possibility that he could emerge as a prominent figure on the Right.
“I’d be a terrible political leader, hopeless,” he told The Times. “I’m a journalist at heart, I prefer throwing rocks at people than having them thrown at me.”
Clarkson went on to say that Sir Keir Starmer “doesn’t know what farming is” and that Rachel Reeves does not understand “the first thing about it”.
“I have no doubts in my mind that if I were to be a figurehead for this campaign, there would be a lot of people saying, ‘I’ve heard it said that it’s because of people like James Dyson, and to a much, much, lesser extent me, that this tax has come about’,” he said.
“But I don’t buy that, because if Reeves wanted to take out, let’s say, hedge fund managers who have land, she should have used a sniper’s rifle. But she used a blunderbuss and she’s hit every single farmer.”
Clarkson has become one of Britain’s best-known rural voices since the release of Clarkson’s Farm, the Amazon documentary which documents the running of his Diddly Squat Farm in the Cotswolds.
The former Top Gear presenter, known for his plain speaking and conservative views, made a speech and clashed with the BBC when he attended the protest against inheritance tax changes in Westminster on Tuesday.
His appearance sparked calls for him to enter politics.
Sebastian Payne, director of the Onward think tank, hailed Clarkson as the “political hero the country is crying out for” in a column in the i newspaper.
“Should Labour continue to wage a war on the environment, it’s not hard to imagine Clarkson going one step further and giving Parliament a run,” Mr Payne wrote.
James Kanagasooriam, the pollster, claimed Clarkson could become Britain’s answer to Donald Trump.
“Genuinely think that if Jeremy Clarkson entered politics now – it could be a moment,” he said. “Britain’s Trump moment – but far more English and less authoritarian.”
James Frayne, founding partner of opinion research agency Public First, said: “The nature of the British system makes this difficult, compared to the US.
“But he wouldn’t find it difficult to find a seat, and like Nigel Farage and Reform, who were able to change UK politics from the outside in drawing the support of Conservative activists and councillors, he could do it.”
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