CLARKSON: ANYONE, BUT LABOUR

Jeremy Clarkson hit out at Labour last month in his column for The Sun, in which he declared them lacking a 'single redeeming feature'.  In his article he explored his conundrum as to who he should vote for in the looming election.  He dedicated a sentence or two to the Lib Dems, Greens and Reform, gave very little positive feedback on the Tories, before laying into Labour and failing to endorse any of them.

Clarkson appeals to certain demographics in Britain, one of which is certainly those of us who the left racially abuse as 'gammon'.  Middle class conservatives are at ease with Clarkson, his affluent lifestyle and politically incorrect views are a comfort to them in a world where the left police speech.  We at BTLP have always regarded him and his Top Gear chums as a safety valve for the Beeb, a vehicle for which they can still draw in conservative-minded viewers and claim to be 'balanced'.

Clarkson himself tries to maintain a balance when it comes to his political views.  More often than not, he has promoted conservative and libertarian values, but he also continues to defend a totalitarian European Union and even endorsed Keir Starmer's Labour back in 2020.  His latest article turns that endorsement on its head, while at the same time he joins the Labour leader in his favoured spot seated on top of the fence.  The full article is reprinted below.

Like almost every normal person in Britain, I’m struggling to work out which way I should vote in the forthcoming election.

Here in the Cotswolds, many houses are festooned with Lib Dem posters, and I can see why.

They’ve promised to take us back into Europe and, as a Remainer, I can see the appeal of that.

But then we have Reform, and the fact is that when Lee Anderson opens his mouth on TikTok, I often find myself nodding quietly and thinking: "Well, he does have a point."

So what about the Greens?  Sure, they have some absolutely mad policies on most things, but they do say, and this appeals to me, that they would like cleaner rivers and better soil.

The Tories?  Tricky one this.  For the past few years they’ve been pretty much useless.

Cowed by a fear of social media into a state of near paralysis, they’ve steered us into a world where the trains, the roads, the airports, the NHS and border control just don’t work any more.

And Mr Rishi leaving the D-Day events in France was incomprehensible.

But their heart’s in the right place on taxes and economic stability, and that’s important.

So now we arrive at the Labour Party, and I’m sorry, but I cannot find a single redeeming feature.

In the entire campaign so far, not a single candidate has said one word that I agree with.

They want open borders, zero growth and everyone living in a bucket of shame because their great great grandad once bought a hairbrush that had possibly been made by slaves.

Their manifesto contains just 87 words on farming. Which, when translated into English basically say: “We hate you, you meat-eating rural halfwits.”

It’s even been suggested that inheritance tax will have to be paid on farm land.

Which means that in about 20 years’ time, there will be no farm land.

And therefore no food, apart from in all the town-centre, nuclear-free, South African peace stores, where you will be able to buy sustainable tofu.

I get, of course, that people are fed up with the Tories, but I’d rather vote for my dog than Sir Starmer’s merry bunch of ideological nincompoops.

Half of them don’t know what a woman is, and now it transpires Starmer himself can’t even define the working class.

He thinks it has something to do with people who work.  But King Charles works, you idiot.

Working class is a state of mind.  It’s a community spirit.  It has nothing to do with whether you work or not.

What I hate most of all about Labour, though, is that they believe that if you work hard all your life and make some savings to tide you over in your old age, those savings are theirs.

And that they should be given to people who haven’t worked at all.

Which is why, come polling day, I’m praying there’s a box on the ballot paper which says: "Anyone but Labour."

Clarkson's Diddly Squat Farm is located in the Oxfordshire constituency of Banbury (previously Witney).  As we are currently meting out our predictions for various constituencies this Thursday, it is perhaps an apt moment to lend our forecast for Banbury (and Witney).

The latest boundary review finds Clarkson's farm, south of the small Cotswold town of Chipping Norton, transferred from Witney to Banbury this time around.  Both constituencies are traditionally Tory seats.  Banbury has returned a Conservative MP since 1922, Witney since its creation in 1983, albeit the latter did have a Labour MP briefly when Tory MP Shaun Woodward crossed the floor to Labour in 1999.  The Tories took the seat back in 2001 with a candidate by the name of David Cameron...

The future PM rebuilt the Tory majority in Witney from an all-time low of 7,028 in 1997.  By 2015 he had more than quadrupled it to 25,155, but that was its peak.  The best it would get after that was 21,241 in 2017 and it currently stands at 15,177.

The Tory majority in Banbury also had to be rebuilt after 1997 and currently stands at 16,813.  Both sitting Tory MPs believe they can hold these seats, but can they?

It's a crowded field in Banbury with both the Greens and Climate Party standing, as well as Reform and the SDP (despite a supposed deal that they would not go head to head).  Banbury is very tricky to call as it looks set to be a tight three-way battle between the Tories, Lib-Dems and Labour.

Banbury candidates 2024

Liz Adams (LDem)

Arron Baker (Grn)

Cassi Bellingham (Ind)

Chris Nevile (Clim)

Victoria Prentis (Con)

Declan Soper (SDP)

Paul Topley (RefUK)

Sean Woodcock (Lab)

BTLP seat prediction: Lab GAIN from Con

Seven candidates are competing in Witney, including a rare outing for David Kurten's Heritage Party.  This will be a straight fight between the Tories and Lib Dems.

Witney candidates 2024

Robert Courts (Con)

David Cox (Herit)

Barry Ingleton  (Ind)

Richard Langridge (RefUK)

Charles Maynard (LDem)

Andrew Prosser (Grn)

Antonio Weiss (Lab)

BTLP seat prediction: LDem GAIN from Con