Jeremy Clarkson slams Starmer as he dubs him ‘nightmare for farmers’

Jeremy Clarkson has laid into Sir Keir Starmer, branding him a nightmare for farmers, after joining a demonstration against Labour’s inheritance tax raid.

It comes after the Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in the party’s recent Budget that, though there would still be no inheritance tax due on combined business and agricultural assets worth less than £1m, assets valued above £1m would have 50% relief, at an effective rate of 20% from April 2026, as per .

Many more were previously given a tax break under Agricultural Property Relief (APR) – a policy specifically designed to protect family-run farms by reducing the tax burden they face, so they don’t have to sell their main income source to pay the bill.

The move prompted fury among many farmers, who staged a march in Whitehall this week. Clarkson, a former host of Top Gear and star of hit Amazon series Clarkson’s Farm was among them, and took to the stage to decry what he called the “infernal” Labour government.

The broadcaster, who bought his Diddly Squat Farm in 2008, has now launched further criticism of the government’s treatment of farmers in an interview for , suggesting the leadership is ignorant of the vital role the sector plays in our day-to-day lives.

“Oh yes, I know in Kentish Town juice bars where lives, they’re having a big laugh at the National Pig Awards,” Clarkson told the newspaper.

“But elsewhere in the country people like a bacon sandwich and it all comes from pig farmers, and to them it really matters.”

The broadcaster branded Sir Keir a “nightmare for farmers”, claiming that he “doesn’t know what farming is”. “He doesn’t even eat meat. Dreadful people,” Clarkson added. “That’s the problem we’re facing in farming. Nobody understands the first thing about it”.

The petrolhead says he is “campaigning for there to be no inheritance tax on land,” admitting that “in some ways that is a tax subsidy”, but suggests its neccessary given the broken model farming operates under, arguing, “if we were allowed to sell food for what it costs to make, we wouldn’t be having this conversation”.

“You try charging what food actually costs. People would go berserk. You can’t say to farmers, ‘sell it for less than it costs. Oh, and by the way, you are paying the same taxes as everyone else’. Obviously that’s nuts.

“Farming is the only industry I can think of where you buy everything at retail and you sell wholesale,” he added. “Nobody else does.”

Clarkson argued Labour’s economic plans have made the situation worse for farmers who are already struggling.

“Farming is in an absolutely parlous state,” he claimed. “It was before the budget. These poor guys and girls are sitting on their tractors on their own, earning no money, it’s freezing cold and it’s dangerous.

“Then to be given this budget when they’re that far down is an act of cruelty. I cannot understand how mean-spirited the exchequer must be to have delivered it.”

He also suggested the measures could have been more focused on the very richest landowners, saying, “if Reeves wanted to take out, let’s say, hedge fund managers who have land, she should have used a sniper’s rifle. But she used a blunderbuss and she’s hit every single farmer”.

However, some calculations suggest only the richest farms worth millions of pounds will be affected, which are in a minority. Challenged with the research by the outlet, Clarkson branded it “utter, utter bulls**t — only a tiny number will be unaffected by this”, a view not reflected in the official analysis.

Clarkson insists there is now “absolute poverty” in the sector. “I’m surrounded by farmers. I’m not going out for dinner with James Dyson. It’s people with 200 acres, 400 acres. Way past Rachel Reeves’s threshold. They are f***ed.

This week, a source close to Reeves strongly denied reports that the government is about to put forward an exemption for farmers aged 80 and over from the tax amid outrage in rural England, reports.

In a joint statement issued by Reeves and Environment Secretary Steve Reed ahead of this week’s protests the pair said they were “steadfast” in their commitment to British farming but admitted they “recognise the strength of feeling expressed by farming and rural communities”.

“It’s why we are investing £5 billion into farming over the next two years, the largest amount ever directed towards sustainable food production, rural economic growth and nature’s recovery in our country’s history,” they said.

“But with public services crumbling and a £22 billion fiscal hole that this Government inherited, we have taken difficult decisions.”

The Cabinet minister argued that Budget reforms to Agricultural Property Relief would see wealthier estates and the most valuable farms “pay their fair share to invest in our schools and health services that farmers and families in rural communities rely on”, as per .

Express.co.uk has approached the Treasury for comment via email.