Jeremy Clarkson backpedals on previous claim he bought farm for tax reasons

Saturday 23 November 2024 4:41 pm

Jeremy Clarkson has backpedalled on his earlier feedback about why he purchased his farm, saying he thought it will be a “higher PR story if I mentioned I purchased it to keep away from paying tax”.

The TV presenter and journalist defied medical doctors’ orders by becoming a member of hundreds of farmers in London on Tuesday to protest in opposition to agricultural inheritance tax modifications.

The 64-year-old, who fronts Prime Video’s Clarkson’s Farm, which paperwork the trials of farming on his land in Oxfordshire, wrote in a submit on the High Gear web site in 2010: “I’ve purchased a farm. There are lots of smart causes for this: Land is a greater funding than any financial institution can supply. The federal government doesn’t get any of my cash once I die. And the value of the meals that I develop can solely go up.”

Clarkson additionally informed the Instances in 2021 that avoiding inheritance tax was “the important factor” in his resolution to purchase land.

Addressing the declare in a brand new interview with The Instances, the previous High Gear presenter mentioned: “I by no means did admit why I actually purchased it.”

The fan of sport chook capturing added: “I wished to have a shoot – I used to be very naive. I simply thought it will be a greater PR story if I mentioned I purchased it to keep away from paying tax.”

Clarkson was among the many hundreds who took to the streets this week to protest over the modifications within the latest Finances to impose inheritance tax on farms value greater than £1m and he addressed the crowds on the march in central London.

He informed the newspaper he isn’t completely satisfied to be the general public face of the motion, saying: “It needs to be led by farmers.”

The presenter mentioned he doesn’t contemplate himself a farmer as a result of there are “so many fundamental jobs” which he can’t do, however he feels his function is to “report on farming”.

Earlier this month, it was confirmed Clarkson’s Farm, which has attracted large consideration to his Diddly Squat farm store, had been renewed for a fifth collection.

Requested whether or not the problem behind the tax protest is that rural poverty is hidden, Clarkson agreed and mentioned his programme was not serving to to handle the scenario.

“One of many issues we’ve on the present is we’re not exhibiting the poverty both, as a result of clearly on Diddly Squat there isn’t any poverty”, he mentioned.

“However belief me, there may be absolute poverty. I’m surrounded by farmers. I’m not going out for dinner with James Dyson.

“It’s individuals with 200 acres, 400 acres. Well past Rachel Reeves’s threshold. They’re f*****.”

The newspaper columnist additionally presents Who Desires To Be A Millionaire? on ITV. The Grand Tour, his motoring present with former High Gear colleagues Richard Hammond and James Might, led to September.

Discussing whether or not he would possibly transfer into politics, Clarkson mentioned: “I’d be a horrible political chief, hopeless.

“I’m a journalist at coronary heart, I favor throwing rocks at individuals than having them thrown at me.”

Nonetheless, he mentioned he could be “100% behind any escalation” after the farmers’ march.

Clarkson revealed final month he had undergone a coronary heart process to have stents fitted after experiencing a “sudden deterioration” in his well being which introduced on signs of being “clammy”, a “tightness” in his chest and “pins and needles” in his left arm.

He mentioned in a Sunday Instances column that one in all his arteries was “fully blocked and the second of three was heading that approach” and medical doctors mentioned he was maybe “days away” from changing into very in poor health.

Requested if he is considering retiring, the Doncaster-born celeb mentioned: “Most likely not. It relies upon while you die, I all the time suppose.

“You’d be stunned, us Northerners are fabricated from robust stuff.”

By Naomi Clarke, PA Senior Leisure Reporter