Jeremy Clarkson’s Conservative conference appearance
Jeremy Clarkson made a surprise appearance at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, where he called the year on his farm a “terrible” one and…
At the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, Jeremy Clarkson used a surprise appearance to describe a “terrible” year for farming and question the conditions facing businesses. His remarks put rising farm costs and the viability of starting a business in Britain at the centre of a session attended by party supporters.
“Why would anybody set up a business in this country right now?” Clarkson asked during a question-and-answer session alongside land agent Charlie Ireland. The government said it was working with farmers to strengthen domestic food production and make supply chains more resilient.
The former Top Gear presenter, who stars in Clarkson’s Farm, said hot weather had hurt the farm’s results. “We worked really hard all year and we ended up with, I think I'm right in saying, three ounces of hen food,” he said.
“It was an absolute disaster on the farming side,” Clarkson added, while noting that he had other projects. He described farming as “very, very difficult” at the moment.
Clarkson said farmers faced pressure beyond the weather, citing taxes, energy costs and international events. He said he was fortunate to have other income streams, including newspaper columns, but argued that an ordinary farmer did not have the same cushion.
Clarkson’s Conservative conference appearance and farm costs
Clarkson was introduced by Victoria Atkins, the Conservative shadow environment secretary. He received loud applause from the audience, then joked that “a lot of people have come dressed as seats, I notice, around the edges there”.
His comments come after he campaigned against the Labour government’s inheritance tax plans for farmers. Former chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the levy on family farms in the party’s first budget. The plan was later watered down following a farmers’ campaign and pressure from some Labour MPs representing rural areas, according to the BBC report.
The dispute matters beyond Clarkson’s own farm: the government’s response links the issue to domestic food production and the resilience of supply chains. Farmers’ costs and the conditions they face can affect how farms operate, while the government says it wants to build a stronger and more profitable farming sector.
A government source, responding to Clarkson’s remarks, said: “We are working with farmers to strengthen domestic food production and make supply chains more resilient as we build a stronger and more profitable farming sector together.”
Clarkson also criticised the broader economic conditions for business owners. His question about why anyone would start a business echoed his comments about farmers’ exposure to costs, though the session’s account did not set out specific figures for those pressures.
He also joked about remarks by Labour MP Jenny Riddell-Carpenter on rural imagery. Riddell-Carpenter had described the vision of country pubs and black Labradors as a “nostalgic” false memory, warning that a far-right version of rural Britain was being promoted. Clarkson quipped that he was a “socialist” because he drinks lager and has two fox red Labradors.
Clarkson has long supported the Conservatives and presents ITV’s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. At the conference, he said the farming year had yielded just three ounces of hen food.
Source: bbc.co.uk
