Jeremy Clarkson has said he “hates” Keir Starmer because he is “so flippant about farmers”. The TV presenter said his Diddly Squat farm will be shut down for two months after an outbreak of Bovine TB.
Mr Clarkson made the comment when Times Radio host Peter Caldwell asked if the Prime Minister was is still banned from his pub The Farmer’s Dog. In response, the farmer said: “Oh God yes. I hate very few people in life but I do hate that man. He’s awful. He’s definitely banned. He’s just so flippant about farmers. whenever you ask him it’s just like ‘Well who cares about them?’ And that’s one of the things I really dislike.”
The former Top Gear host said described the last 24 hours as “awful”.
He added that he was not enjoying farming this week.
Mr Clarkson said: “It’s awful, it is awful. You have a test every six months on the cows and then you sort of become blasé, it’s a hypothetical threat. And then the vet looks up as he did yesterday lunchtime and said ‘I’m really sorry this one’s failed’. So that means we’re now locked down and it’s just dreadful, absolutely dreadful.
“It’s only been not even 24 hours since I found out and it occupies my mind. Well it was occupying my mind but I got up this morning and found one of my puppies has died. And we’ve got a very sickly calf. Honestly, farming? I’m not enjoying it this week.
[The farm will be closed for] Certainly two months because that’s how long we have to wait before we do another test.
The farm shop’s unaffected – it’s only cows that get affected by it. “
Cattle which fail a TB test, or animals that have inconclusive results for two consecutive tests, and are classed as “reactors”, must be isolated then to slaughter.
Bovine TB is recognised as a problem which devastates farm businesses, spreading from badgers to cattle, and from cow to cow.
Badger culling has long been a part of the Government response to the disease, despite criticism from wildlife and animal welfare campaigners.
The Government last month said it will not be extending the badger cull and retains its commitment to end the practice before the next election.
Oxfordshire is an “edge area” for TB, meaning it is a buffer zone between high risk and low risk areas – so most herds are subject to six monthly TB tests by default.
There have been several cases in the area of Oxfordshire near to Diddly Squat Farm in recent weeks, according to ibTB, a mapping platform for the disease in England and Wales.
Sir Keir’s Environment Secretary Steve Reed previously said he would consider his time at the Secretary of State “a failure” if he did not improve profitability for farmers up and down this country.
He outlined plans for a 25-year farming roadmap and food strategy earlier thid year, which put food production at its core and makes farm businesses more resilient to shocks such as severe flooding, drought and animal disease.
Mr Reed, who has come under fire for a farming inheritance tax raid, insisted the move will ensure farming is a “sector which recognises restoring nature is not in competition with sustainable food production, but is essential to it”.
A Government spokeswoman previously said: “Our commitment to farmers remains steadfast.
“This Government will invest £5 billion into farming over the next two years, the largest budget for sustainable food production in our country’s history. We are going further with reforms to boost profits for farmers by backing British produce and reforming planning rules on farms to support food production.
“Our reform to Agricultural and Business Property Reliefs will mean farmers will pay a reduced inheritance tax rate of 20%, rather than the standard 40% for other businesses, and payments can be spread over 10 years, interest-free. This is a fair and balanced approach, which fixes the public services we all rely on, affecting around 500 estates a year.”