Fact check: Jeremy Clarkson’s remark on striking workers was a joke over balance

Comments from a 2011 television interview have resurfaced after the former Top Gear presenter became involved in the farming protest.

Thursday 21 November 2024 11:50 EST

Jeremy Clarkson joins the farmers’ protest in central London over the changes to inheritance tax rules in the recent Budget (James Manning/PA) (PA Wire)

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In the wake of farmers protesting against changes to inheritance tax in London, a social media user criticised television presenter Jeremy Clarkson’s previous record of political interventions.

The post on X, formerly Twitter, read: “You might ask where was Clarkson during the years of Austerity and cuts? I will tell you where HE was. He was saying … public sector workers should be shot dead for going on strike. That is where.”

Evaluation

Mr Clarkson did make a remark about shooting public workers who were on strike while being interviewed on TV in 2011. However, this statement was prefaced by him stating that he would have to do so in order to give the appearance of “balance” having jokingly praised the strikes for reducing traffic in central London.

The facts

Austerity was the name popularly given to the coalition government of 2010’s policy of reducing the national deficit and spending cuts, with analysis by the Institute of Fiscal Studies largely concluding that it affected the years between 2010 and 2019.

On November 30, 2011, public sector workers went on strike over changes to pensions, with the Prime Minister’s office estimating 135,000 civil servants walked out and 62% of schools were closed.

On the day of the strikes, Jeremy Clarkson was a guest on The One Show, a BBC One magazine programme broadcast live at 7pm. Although the episode is no longer available to view in its entirety, clips remain online. Some of these clips include only the most controversial part of the exchange, to which the post on X is referring, in which Mr Clarkson says: “I would have them all shot. I would take them outside and execute them in front of their families. I mean, how dare they go on strike when they’ve got these gilt-edged pensions that are going to be guaranteed while the rest of us have to work for a living?”

However, a longer clip explains the context of this remark. Having been introduced by presenters Matt Baker and Alex Jones, who noted the need for “balanced, uncontroversial opinions”, Mr Clarkson first states the strikes have been “fantastic… London today has just been empty… you can whizz about”. Then, he says: “We have to balance it, though, don’t we? Because this is the BBC.”

Following this, Mr Clarkson makes his comments about shooting workers. Matt Baker then states: “Those are Jeremy’s views.” Mr Clarkson replies: “They’re not! I’ve just given two views for you.”

The television regulator Ofcom investigated the remarks. In a letter dated February 2012 and addressed to the assistant general secretary of public workers’ union Unison, Ofcom explained that it would be clear to most viewers that Mr Clarkson’s “comments were not an expression of seriously held beliefs or views that should be literally interpreted”, that the target of the joke “was partly the BBC” and that Alex Jones “made a wide-ranging apology” during the broadcast. The regulator thus decided that none of its rules had been breached.