Legendary television presenter turned farmer Jeremy Clarkson has spoken out for his fellow farmers of Oxfordshire, England, who held a protest on Tuesday after local officials decided that only vegan products would be served at council events.
“Farmers of Oxfordshire. I wish I’d know about your protest today. I’d have been there like a shot,” Clarkson posted on Twitter. Sharing a link to local news coverage of the demonstration, he criticized the council’s move to ban non-vegan foods at municipal events as “utter utter madness.”
“Why are Liberal Democrats always Stalinist,” the presenter added.
On Tuesday, local farmers staged a demonstration at County Hall in Oxford to protest the decision made by the Liberal Democrat and Green alliance council. The protesters also called on the authorities, as well as Oxfordshire residents, to better support the British agricultural sector.
The council, which passed plans for the move in December, said the measure was part of its efforts to tackle climate change.
The authority also said it would “ensure that food provided at all council catered events and meetings is entirely plant-based, preferably using ingredients sourced from local food surplus organisations.”
Clarkson recently took up farming, despite no prior experience, after the farmer who managed his lands in Chadlington, Oxfordshire retired. His trials and tribulations as an amateur farmer have been popularized in the Amazon documentary ‘Clarkson’s Farm.’
The well-known presenter won an award for promoting British agriculture along with show co-star Kaleb Cooper at the British Farming Awards in 2021.