JEREMY Clarkson today slammed his former employer over its coverage of the farmers’ protest.
The former Top Gear presenter is among 10,000 farmers protesting Labour’s so-called ‘tractor tax’, announced in the Autumn Budget.
@Newsnight / XJeremy Clarkson slams the BBC during a live interview[/caption]
@Newsnight / XClarkson spoke to Newsnight’s Victoria Derbyshire surrounded by farmers[/caption]
@Newsnight / XHe accused the Beeb of being a ‘mouthpiece’[/caption]
He is urging the government to reverse the inheritance tax rules slapping a 20 per cent levy on holdings of more than £1 million.
During a fiery interview with Victoria Derbyshire he angrily said: “Typical BBC. You people.”
Later, during a separate speech, as he addressed protesting farmers, he said: “Since when was the BBC the mouthpiece of this infernal Government?”
Mr Clarkson, 64, accused the Newsnight host of failing to be impartial in her reporting of the Government’s inheritance tax grab.
Desperate farmers have driven their tractors on the capital to show their dismay at Chanceller Rachel Reeves‘ plan to limit existing 100% inheritance tax relief on farms to only the first £1million.
Ms Derbyshire asked Mr Clarkson: “So, it’s not about you, your farm and to avoid inheritance attack?”
The Clarkson’s Farm and Grand Tour star rolled his eyes and said: “Classic BBC there. Classic.”
Ms Derbyshire responded “is it?” before referencing an article Mr Clarkson had written in the Sunday Times in 2021 about the tax benefits of buying a farm.
The presenter said: “Typical BBC. You people.”
He disputed Ms Derbyshire’s claim it was a “fact” he bought his farm in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, for tax purposes, before adding that she was simply expressing her “opinion”.
He went on to joke she had formed her views at the same “sixth form debating society” as Ms Reeves.
Mr Clarkson then laughed when Ms Derbyshire said: “I am not expressing opinions I am literally asking you questions.”
The BBC journalist then repeated the Chancellor’s claims that inheritance tax going up would “raise money for public services”.
Mr Clarkson then turned to the crowds of farmers and asked: “Are you listening to this?”
Explaining his purchase of his farm he said: “Let’s start from the beginning I wanted to shoot, which comes with the benefit of not paying inheritance tax, now I do.
“People like me will simply put it in a trust, and so long as I live for seven years that’s fine.
“As my daughter says, you might be in a deep freeze at the end of it, but you will live for seven years.
“It is incredibly time consuming to have to do that, why should all these people have to do that, why should they?”
He argued the rise had been brought in, to “stop wealthy people”.
Ms Derbyshire then asked “where should they get their money from if not farmers?” to which Clarkson replied: “Did you hear that everyone? BBC thinks you should be paying for everything.”
He added: “Do you know how many people pay inheritance tax in this country?
“Four per cent pay inheritance tax, 96 per cent of the population of the UK does not pay inheritance tax. After this becomes a law, 96 per cent of farmers will.”
Asked where he’d got his figure from, Mr Clarkson turned to the crowd of farmers and said: “Who here is going to be unaffected by these changes? No one.”
He went on to say his message to the Government is: “Please back down… they’ve got £40billion, I’ll tell you where to get the money from, walk into any offices around here, if you don’t understand what somebodies’ job is, fire them.”
‘I’VE NEVER BEEN ON A PROTEST BEFORE’
Speaking exclusively to The Sun, Diddly Squat farm owner Clarkson said: “I’ve never been on a protest before and we shouldn’t be having to do it.”
Asked about the new “tractor tax” rules, he added: “I think DEFRA were pushed into it.
“I don’t think there’s a much of an appetite in DEFRA for it because they have to deal with farmers, they know how cross they are.
“I think it was the treasury. I think it was comrade Reeves.
“The treasury have suggested it, she’s lapped it up.”
Mr Clarkson – who boarded a coach alongside other farmers from the Cotswolds – said he did not think Brit landowners would block roads.
He said: “We are not Just Stop Oil so won’t block roads.
“But I quite like the idea of channelling our inner French.
“When you’ve made a mistake like the government has done, you take a step back and say ‘I’ve cocked up slightly there’
“It would be nice to think they are big enough to say that.
“Only four percent pay inheritance tax in this country.
“So the only people paying inheritance tax after this will be farmers.
“They have to pay it as a non-existent income. It’s quite absurd.”
He later took to a stage to address protesters, joking he’s “off my t**s on codeine and paracetamol, I don’t know why I’m saying.”
Farmers are furious with the government over its inheritance tax changes, which limit the existing 100% relief for farms to only the first £1 million of combined agricultural and business property.
Ministers, however, have said farmers are “wrong” to think that thousands of farm businesses will be affected by the changes, insisting only around 500 of the wealthiest estates will have to pay tax under the move.
Clarkson today urged them to back down, telling the crowd: “For the sake of everybody here, and for all the farmers stuck at home paralysed by a fog of despair over what’s been foisted on them, I beg of the Government to be big and accept this was rushed through, it wasn’t thought out and it was a mistake.”
GettyJeremy Clarkson addressed the crowd as they marched on Whitehall on Tuesday[/caption]
AlamyGloucester Farmers drive their tractors around the city to protest the implantation of Inheritance on Farmers Estates[/caption]
ReutersThousands descended on the capital to have their say[/caption]
ReutersClarkson gestures by putting his fingers to his ears during the event[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
