A cabal of left-wing MPs have, predictably, smelt blood and are going after Jeremy Clarkson. For anyone waking up from a four-day coma, Clarkson is under siege for writing a Sun column railing against Meghan Markle. One paragraph parodied a Game of Thrones scene:
“At night, I’m unable to sleep as I lie there, grinding my teeth and dreaming of the day when she is made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant, ‘Shame!’ and throw lumps of excrement at her.”
Given Markle is the least popular member of the royal family bar Prince Andrew, Guido guesses many Brits may have been inclined to broadly agree with the sentiment of the piece. Instead the London-centric Twitter-sphere is apoplectic; getting the column taken down and forcing Clarkson into a sorry-not-sorry climbdown.
Oh dear. I’ve rather put my foot in it. In a column I wrote about Meghan, I made a clumsy reference to a scene in Game of Thrones and this has gone down badly with a great many people. I’m horrified to have caused so much hurt and I shall be more careful in future.
— Jeremy Clarkson (@JeremyClarkson) December 19, 2022
For some reason, lefty MPs feel that this important issue is today’s national priority. Rather than the strikes, the economy, war on our continent, or at the very least just logging off ahead of Christmas…
Tory-in-name-only MP Caroline Nokes has spearheaded a letter on behalf of those “hurt” by Jezza’s “#NotAnApology”, demanding he instead issue “an unreserved apology… to Ms Markle immediately”.
“We further demand definitive action is taken to ensure no article like this is ever published again.”
The letter is signed by 64 MPs, mainly Labour and SNP. Guido notes that whichever of Nokes’s staff formatted the letter isn’t particularly savvy, given the top name of the second column is Clive Lewis. An MP whose primary contribution to feminism thus far was telling a woman to “get on your knees bitch”.
Guido’s no stranger to defending Clarkson in times of career trouble. The BBC, despite dismissing him for a fracas in 2015, often stood by him during rows about things he’d said or written.
Guido’s not so confident that the likes of Amazon – American distributors of his brilliant farming show – will have the same backbone this time around…
UPDATE: Meanwhile, the official letter from MPs accusing the Sun of editorial sloppiness includes signatories spelt as follows:
- Mary Kelly Fox [sic]
- Claudia Webb [sic]
- Hanna [sic] Bardell
- Andy Macdonald [sic]
- Alan [sic] Doran [sic]
Chapeau…
No-one in Britain, with the volcanic exception of Piers Morgan, is more exercised by the Harry and Meghan drama than Conservative MP Bob Seely. Having first fumed to Tom Newton Dunn on December 1, claiming he’d table a Private Member’s Bill to strip the pair of their titles if he “had the time“, Seely has now finally seen enough. In the eight days since, he’s found the time after all…
Seely told Dan Wootton his cunning plan on GB News:
“… What we’ve found is a reasonably obscure 1917 bill called the Royal Titles Bill, and we’re going to bring in – potentially – an amendment to that. And that Bill was brought in in 1917 to strip various aristocrats [of their titles] in this country, members of the royal family, who were siding with the Germans in World War One.”
He’s hoping to table the amendment early next year. It would certainly gain the Royal Assent in quick time – and save Harry’s father the nuisance of doing the job himself…
That’s some zinger…
Prince Harry and Meghan have once again broken with royal rules to tell voters to “reject hate speech” at the “most important election of our lifetime”. Filmed in the garden of their $14 million mansion in California, the royal Santa Barbara couple said that while Prince Harry can’t vote, they will work to “reimagine the world around us” and “build worlds of compassion”. Guido can’t imagine the California-based millionaire couple will do much to swing votes in the rust-belt…
The new MP for Stoke-on-Trent North, Jonathan Gullis, has jumped upon Piers Morgan’s comments about Meghan Markle’s apparent reluctance to engage in Royal duties, with an offer surely too good to turn down. In a Daily Mail column yesterday, Piers Morgan had written that:
“Meghan wants to live the life of an A-list star off the back of her new royal fame, cherry-picking all the good stuff like luxury tours, movie premieres, charity galas and Hollywood parties.
But she doesn’t want to get her hands dirty opening a community hall on a wet Wednesday in Stoke-on-Trent. That’s for the little royal people, not a superstar princess like her.”
Sensing an opportunity for his constituency that was too good to miss, Gullis tweeted that Meghan was more than welcome to visit.
If the Duchess of Sussex ever wishes to visit, open up a community hall or get sausage roll from @WrightsFoodGrp in Stoke-on-Trent North, Kidsgrove and Talke (on a wet or dry day) please do visit.
cc: @piersmorgan https://t.co/hNPZUVPwhH
— Jonathan Gullis MP (@JEGullis) January 10, 2020
When asked if the offer was serious, Gullis told Guido that “the Duchess of Sussex would also be most welcome to come visit the Mothertown of Burslem, have a tour of Chatterley Whitfield or open Kidsgrove Sports Centre once we reopen it next summer.” Go on Meghan, prove Piers wrong…
