Clarkson tells Tory conference farmers being attacked ‘from everywhere’

Jeremy Clarkson addressed delegates at the International Convention Centre, Birmingham (Jacob King/PA)PA WireHarry Taylor4 minutes agoThe Weekender

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Jeremy Clarkson has appeared on stage at the Conservative Party Conference as he said farmers were being “attacked” from every angle by rising costs.

The star of Clarkson’s Farm on Amazon Prime also decried the conditions faced by business owners and asked: “Why would anybody set up a business in this country right now?”

The former host of BBC motoring show Top Gear said problems had been caused by international conflict and referenced the family farms tax policy by the Labour Government. He joked he was going to set up another pub – but not in Britain, due to Government policy.

He said it had been a “terrible” year for farming due to the hot weather, but said he was optimistic about the future.

Clarkson appeared alongside land agent Charlie Ireland, who is also on the show. He joked about comments by Labour MP Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Suffolk Costal) who said the Britain of country pubs and black Labradors was a “nostalgic” false memory.

They spoke during a session led by the party’s shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins during the party’s annual event in central Birmingham.

Jeremy Clarkson and shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins on stage during the Conservative Party conference at the International Convention Centre, Birmingham. Picture date: Monday October 5, 2026.PA WireClarkson 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.

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

Jeremy Clarkson was joined by Charlie Ireland and shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins (Stefan Rousseau/PA)PA WireFormer 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.”