Clarkson tells Scots to forget indyref2 after Highlands tour

● Former Top Gear presenter hails nation as earth’s most beautiful place but says vote won’t bring back Sean Connery

Jeremy Clarkson has described the Highlands as the most beautiful place on earth as he urged Scots to forget about independence.

The former Top Gear presenter spent last week filming in Scotland with colleagues Richard Hammond and James May for their Amazon Prime series The Grand Tour.

They travelled the North Coast 500 route. Clarkson fell in love with the scenery, ranking it as the most stunning place he had ever visited.

The 58-year-old told how his trip had turned his thoughts to the independence debate. He insisted the country should not go to the polls again.

Clarkson said independence was not the top priority for the locals he met and getting rid of the English would not “unite the country and bring back Sean Connery”.

He said: “I spent several days recently up beyond Inverness and I’m not trying to suck up to the Scots, but it really is absolutely eyes-on-stalks beautiful. We often talk about breathtaking views, but in the Highlands they literally do that. I drove on Wednesday along the coast road north of Ullapool and never have I gone so slowly. Sometimes the views were so spectacular, I coasted to a halt and never even noticed.

“The sky was the colour of a Norwegian model’s eyes. Tendrils of cloud spilt over snowcapped mountains before being whipped into nothing by the wind.

“And it went on and on and on, past turquoise water like you find in the Maldives and islands as weird and as enticing as those in Ha Long Bay.

“This was, and I will take no argument on the matter, by far the most beautiful place on earth, as far removed from anything we have in England as Timbuktu.”

The divisive presenter compared the independence debate to Brexit.

“Scotland had a vote on independence in 2014 and sanity prevailed, then those who lost immediately decided they’d like another vote,” he wrote in a national newspaper.

“And so it will go until eventually they win and we will have to post soldiers on the road out of Gretna Green.

“I don’t understand the need for Scottish independence.

“The Battle of Falkirk was a very long time ago and it’s not as if England can win the Calcutta Cup any more. What’s more, the Scottish have exactly the same problem with going it alone as we’ll have post-brexit.

“The bi-curious artisan who’s opened a craft shop in the Highlands selling jumpers knitted from her own armpit hair does not want the same things from Nicola Sturgeon as a heroin enthusiast from the tenements in Glasgow.

“They may think that getting rid of the English will unite them all and bring Sean Connery back, but it won’t.”

Clarkson, Hammond and May chose classic Italian cars, including a Fiat X19, to travel along the 516-mile North Coast route.

0 Richard Hammond, James May and Jeremy Clarkson at Inverness Castle