Clarkson told off for Brown abuse

Published on Saturday 25 July 2009 19:28

JEREMY Clarkson has been carpeted by a BBC boss after using one of the English language's most offensive swear words about Gordon Brown in front of a studio audience.

The Top Gear presenter called the Prime Minister a c*** as part of his warm-up act before filming at the Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey, where the BBC2 car show is made.

Although some of the audience "burst out laughing", BBC2 controller Janice Hadlow later gave the presenter a "dressing down" in front of his colleagues.

The 49-year-old host's outburst comes less than six months after he was forced to apologise for calling Brown a "one-eyed Scottish idiot" during an interview with Australian journalists.

The presenter, known for his right-leaning, un-PC views, is also understood to have made similarly offensive remarks about the Prime Minister to an audience during Top Gear's filming last week.

Clarkson is understood to have told fans: "I get into trouble talking about Gordon Brown, he is a silly c***."

Witnesses say Hadlow approached him at the end of the show and that Clarkson reacted angrily to her concerns.

However, a spokesman for the BBC last night denied claims the pair had had an argument or that the matter had been referred to both the BBC Trust and its director-general.

He said: "Janice Hadlow went to watch a recording of Top Gear as it is BBC2's top-rated programme, and as controller of BBC2 she holds both the programme and Jeremy in high regard.

"After the recording, she and Jeremy had a discussion about the programme as controllers and presenters often do."

A Downing Street spokesman said they would be making no comment.

Clarkson is no stranger to controversy. In November last year he opened the latest series of Top Gear by suggesting that truck drivers only cared about fuel prices and murdering prostitutes, drawing hundreds of complaints.

The presenter and his Top Gear co-hosts were also condemned by the BBC Trust in July for "glamourising the misuse of alcohol" by drinking at the wheel during a Polar special.