Clarkson: Trump is bad, but Brexit is a thousand times worse

Jeremy Clarkson describes himself as pro-European and feels "bloody sad" about Brexit. Photograph: PA Images. PA Archive/PA Images

Jeremy Clarkson has denied responsibility for fanning the flames of anti-immigration sentiment in Britain, and said he feels “bloody sad” about the mess left after the Brexit vote.

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The presenter of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and hit Amazon series The Grand Tour was asked if he felt responsible for Brexit after making controversial remarks towards different cultures on Top Gear in the past.

But he told The Daily Beast: “I don’t know how I’ve done that, I’ve described myself as pro-European for about 30 years.

“I feel European, when I go to America and people ask where I from I say I’m from Europe. So I’m not sure how I contributed to a few coffin-dodgers in Barnsley deciding that they don’t want to live next to a Syrian.”

He said that the mess that has unfolded since the vote had left him “bloody sad” and did not believe it would be resolved in his lifetime.

“I would have just thrown my hands up and just gone, ‘oh for fuck’s sake I can’t be bothered with all of this.

“I don’t think there’s supercomputer on Earth that could [work it out]. Europe has to punish us — they can’t allow us to leave without being damaged because then everyone will want to go. We don’t want to go if we’re going to be damaged.

“We can’t stay, we’ve got Ireland, we’ve got the customs union and I’m still not certain what that means. This is why I said I wanted to stay, I feel European. It’s just bloody sad, that’s what it is, and Christ knows how it’s going to be resolved in my lifetime.”

Clarkson believed that Brexit Britain would be far worse than what is going on in America under Donald Trump.

He said: “I’m not saying I’m a Trump fan, I’m just saying, it’s bad in America, but it’s a thousand times worse in Britain.”