A 70s comedy legend has called for Jeremy Clarkson to enter politics.
John Cleese, who made his name in the 1970s as part of the Monty Python comedy group, has said he wants Mr Clarkson to be "in the next cabinet".
As well as being known for the Monty Python television series and films, Mr Cleese also cowrote the sitcom Fawlty Towers and appeared in several James Bond movies.
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He made the comment on social media in the context of a debate about badger culling and bovine TB.
Mr Clarkson's Oxfordshire farm Diddly Squat, which is the setting for hit show Clarkson's Farm, was briefly put into lockdown last year after the disease broke out among his herd of cows.
In March this year, he revealed that the lockdown on the farm had been lifted as the 1,000-acre estate was declared TB free.
Even so, it has reignited debates around badger culling, with Mr Clarkson having been strongly in support in the past.
Their effectiveness is widely disputed and the former Top Gear host did show some scepticism about them when his farm went into lockdown last year.
Put Clarkson in the next cabinet
The farmers need protection from blinkered bureaucrats https://t.co/JLRb0uBWLF— John Cleese (@JohnCleese) August 4, 2026
Speaking on Times Radio, he said: “The cull here was pretty heavy and a lot of badgers went off to meet their maker.
“So, you would imagine with the numbers so low that TB would be halted and yet it hasn’t been.”
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Over 12 years it was estimated that more than a quarter of a million badgers were culled but the practice was effectively ended in England this year with a move to vaccination considered instead.
A post on X criticised this move, while commenting that Clarkson's Farm had shown the real-terms impact of stopping the cull.
In response, Mr Cleese said: "Put Clarkson in the next cabinet. The farmers need protection from blinkered bureaucrats."
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