'Execute strikers in front of their families' says Clarkson

THE TWITTERSPHERE has been in overdrive after Jeremy Clarkson said of the striking public sector workers: "I'd have them all shot. I would take them outside and execute them in front of their families."

The Top Gear presenter and Sunday Times columnist was speaking live on the BBC’s The One Show on Wednesday evening as approximately two million workers approached the end of their day on the picket lines.

“I mean, how dare they go on strike when they have these gilt-edged pensions that are being guaranteed while the rest have to work,” he asked.

One fellow newspaper columnist, the Daily Mirror’s Tony Parsons, suggested this might be Clarkson’s “Jonathan Ross moment”.

An immediate apology came from The One Show’s presenters Matt Baker and Alex Jones who, as the The Daily Telegraph reports, had “shifted uncomfortably in their seats” as Clarkson let rip.

It wasn’t just the strikers: he also took the opportunity to attack those who inconvenience him by committing suicide on railway tracks.

“I do sometimes use the train to come to London but it always stops in Reading,” Clarkson said. “It's always because somebody has jumped in front of it and somebody has burst.”

Among the many who reached for Twitter were former deputy prime minister John Prescott. “I know Jeremy Clarkson likes winding people up,” he tweeted, “but it's worth pointing out he gets £1m a year from the licence fee/public sector.”

According to the Mirror, Clarkson earned a further £850,000 last year from spin-offs from the show, including Top Gear Live.

Tony Parsons tweeted: "Jeremy Clarkson has misjudged the moment. Criticising striking public sector workers today is like sieg-heiling at Last Night of the Proms. Those saying [this] is his Jonathan Ross moment are right.” ·