JEREMY CLARKSON should be taken off air by the BBC for his “one-eyed” comments about Gordon Brown, says a leading ally of the Prime Minister.
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“If the BBC banned Jonathan Ross for what he said and they have taken Carol Thatcher off air for something she said in private, then something should be done about Clarkson,” said former minister Lord Foulkes.
Politicians from outside Brown’s Labour Party were also quick to file their outrage over the incident, in which car journalist and TV star Clarkson called the PM a liar as well as a “one-eyed Scottish idiot”.
“Everyone should be upset about someone making jokes about someone else’s partial blindness and nationality, but knowing Jeremy Clarkson I don’t hold out a lot of hope that he will be apologetic,” said Angus Robertson, the SNP’s chief in the Commons.
Liberal Democrat front-bencher Danny Alexander agreed.
“Whatever you think about Gordon Brown’s mishandling of the economy, these insulting remarks are just deeply offensive,” he said.
Clarkson was speaking to an audience in Australia. The “one-eyed” reference is to Brown’s artificial eye, installed after a rugby accident.
Here’s the Clarkson quote in full:
“We’ve got this one-eyed Scottish idiot. He keeps telling us everything’s fine and he’s saved the world and we know he’s lying, but he’s smooth at telling us.”
