Jeremy Clarkson has insisted he’d rather see Vladimir Putin in charge of the UK than Sir Keir Starmer.
The former Grand Tour presenter, who has been a vocal critic of the current Prime Minister, has blasted the politician and claimed convicted war criminal Bosco Ntaganda is the only person he’d place lower on the list.
‘Right now, I’d do nothing to stop an invasion because, apart from that DRC child slavery enthusiast, Bosco Ntaganda, I’d take any world leader over the imbecile we have now,’ he wrote in the Sunday Times.
‘Trump, Meloni, even Putin: I’d welcome any one of them with open arms.’
The Clarkson’s Farm star, 64, was responding to a survey from the Times and YouGov which claimed less than half of people aged 18 to 27, known as Gen Z, are proud to be British.
He said: ’41 per cent [of Gen Z] would not fight to protect our way of life. And … actually, I’m with them on this one. I wouldn’t either.’
In The Times’ survey in 2004, it was found that 80% of young people in the UK were proud of the country.
Meanwhile, he also cited statistics claiming that last year, around 872,000 people aged between 16 and 24 were not in work, training or education.
He argued that some of them ‘spend all day in their bedroom thinking about racism’ with others ‘hydrating in the yoga park’.
Last summer, Jeremy even banned Sir Keir from his Farmer’s Dog pub in the Cotswolds.
He told Times Radio presenter Cathy Newman: ‘He’s banned. Actually, he’s the first person to be banned. He’s actually on a board in the hall, he’s banned.’
He insisted the Prime Minister hadn’t ‘done much to endear himself’ during rows about the conditions for farmers in Britain, while he was similarly critical of the proposed smoking ban in the UK.
The government’s Tobacco and Vapes Bill would see the indoor ban extend to some outdoor settings, while it would also be illegal for anyone currently aged 15 or under to buy cigarettes.
In his column for The Sun, Jeremy said common sense should be applied by smokers rather than banning them from lighting up in certain areas.
‘In my mind, that’s how a society should work. Assume that the vast majority of people are intelligent and compassionate and let them get on with it,’ he wrote.
He branded the Prime Minister ‘deluded’, adding: ‘Sadly, however, Sir Starmer does not think like this.’
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