Jeremy Clarkson says farmers being attacked ‘from everywhere’ amid ‘terrible’ year

Jeremy Clarkson has told the Conservative Party Conference that British farmers are being “attacked” from all sides by escalating expenses.

The star of Amazon Prime series Clarkson’s Farm extended his criticism to the wider economic climate, asking: “Why would anybody set up a business in this country right now?”

The former host of BBC motoring show Top Gear attributed current industry difficulties to global conflict alongside the family farms tax policy introduced by the Labour Government.

He added a joke that government policy had persuaded him to open his next pub outside Britain.

While describing the recent weather conditions as leading to a “terrible” year for agriculture, he told the audience he remained optimistic about the sector’s long-term future.

Appearing with land agent Charlie Ireland, who also features in the program, Clarkson made light of statements by Labour MP Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Suffolk Costal), who had described traditional depictions of country pubs and black Labradors as a “nostalgic” false memory.

Their discussion took place in central Birmingham during a session led by shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins at the party’s annual gathering.

Clarkson said: “It’s terrible, is the only way of describing it.

“We worked really hard all year and we ended up with, I think I’m right in saying, three ounces of hen food.

“It was an absolute disaster on the farming side but, I mean, luckily we’ve got other projects going on now. But the farming is very, very difficult – very, very difficult at the moment.”

He added: “I’m very fortunate that I do have other income streams and newspaper columns, but if you’re an ordinary farmer, it’s not just the weather.

“Remember, it’s as Charlie was saying, the attacks come from everywhere – whether it’s Iran or Ukraine or taxes or energy costs – whatever it might be, it’s just relentless.”

Clarkson has long been associated with the Conservative Party. He was close to former prime minister Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton, as they live near each other in the Cotswolds.

He was also heavily involved in the campaign to stop the Labour Government’s tax on farms.

Former chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the Government would levy inheritance tax on family farms in the party’s first budget.

However, plans for the tax were watered down in December last year following a vocal campaign by farmers and internal pressure from some of Labour’s rural MPs, many of whom were elected for the first time in 2024.

He appeared in footage shown to party members before a speech by Ms Atkins.

Clarkson joked about how few people were in the audience. “A lot of people have come dressed as seats.”

He went on to claim he was thinking of opening a second pub, alongside the Farmer’s Dog near his farm. However, he said: “I am actually looking, as we speak, quite hard into the possibility of opening another pub.

“It’s not going to be in the UK. Why would anybody set up a business in this country right now?”

He also humorously said he was a “socialist” as he drinks lager and has two fox red Labradors, after Ms Riddell-Carpenter told a Labour Party conference fringe event she feared the far right deciding what the vision of rural areas is.

Ms Riddell-Carpenter had said: “It’ll be that warm ale, a black Labrador by your feet in a pub that doesn’t exist, and with symbolism of fox hunting all around them. It’ll be a very far-right nostalgic vision of Britain that we don’t want to have, (that) never really existed.”

Talking about the threats to rural farming communities and economy, Mr Ireland said: “As soon as that’s lost, then we’ll be living in a very different place without my two black Labradors.”

Mr Clarkson turned to Mr Ireland and said: “He’s got two black Labradors, and he drinks Hook Norton, which is warm beer.

“Mine are fox reds (Labradors), and I drink cold lager. Oh, living, breathing socialism, right here.”

Mr Ireland also called for Britain to be “much more joined-up” in terms of water storage.

“We seem to get a lot in a short period during the winter, which flows to the sea, which it’s meant to do, but we could capture some of that perfectly sensibly. Storing that is a real problem at the moment,” he said.

Clarkson added: “If you just left us alone, I’m pretty sure the countryside would be a lot better than it is now.”