Who are you calling a Marxist, Jeremy?
JEREMY CLARKSON has been accused of ‘making up stories’ by the wife of a former BBC executive after he lashed out at his former bosses for sacking him a year ago.
The ex Top Gear host, who still harbours a grudge about his treatment by the Corporation, launched a personal attack against Danny Cohen, the BBC’s former director of television, whom he blames for his downfall.
The 55-year-old – who lost his job after he punched an assistant producer on the show – poured scorn on what he claimed was Cohen’s extreme political correctness.
He also recalled a bizarre incident when the executive chastised him for naming his West Highland terrier Didier Dogba in honour of the Chelsea striker Didier Drogba.
He said: ‘Danny and I were, and I suspect will remain for ever, very far apart on every single thing.
‘Normally you could find some common ground with somebody, but I think Danny and I could probably only get on perfectly well so long as we never had to think about each other for the rest of the time.
‘Because I don’t mind anyone having an opinion that’s different to mine, just so long as they don’t mind my opinion either. So long as it doesn’t impinge on what I do.’
It is no secret that the pair never got on during their time at the BBC. Cohen – who announced his resignation from the Corporation in October – is believed to have despaired of the race rows that engulfed Top Gear, and many TV observers credit him with an instrumental role in Clarkson’s downfall.
But Clarkson’s decision to pour scorn on Cohen in a newspaper interview published yesterday will only deepen the rift between them.
Cohen did not respond to Clarkson’s outburst, but his wife, Noreena Hertz, an acclaimed economist, took offence at the presenter’s claim she had described herself as a Marxist over dinner. According to Clarkson, Ms Hertz used the term when he asked her if she was a communist and she replied: ‘No, a Marxist.’
Clarkson then asked: ‘What’s the difference?’ He added: ‘The next time I was in with Tony Hall [BBC director-general] and Danny Cohen, I said, “Tony, you do know Danny is a communist, don’t you?” Danny got cross and said, “Just because two people are married doesn’t mean they have the same politics.”’
Several of Ms Hertz’s books, including The Silent Takeover: Global Capitalism And The Death Of Democracy, have been critical of modern capitalism. But yesterday she tweeted: ‘Surprised to see myself described today in papers as a Marxist. No truth whatsoever in this story. #MadeupNonsense.’
Clarkson, who is making a new motoring show for Amazon, also criticised the way the BBC treated him as he was coming to terms with his mother’s death two years ago.
At the time, it was investigating the race fall-out from Top Gear’s use of the term ‘slope’ in an edition of the programme set in Burma.
He said: ‘Let’s say they [the BBC] were unhelpful. I said, “My mother’s died. Please leave me alone”. But they wouldn’t. And it was bad.
‘We were doing the TV show and the live shows, and three newspaper columns a week and endless investigations into whether or not we had said this or done that or whether or not my hair was straight or my teeth were cleaned. It went on and on.
‘It was very tricky. So there was quite a lot of pressure that year even for a jovial soul like me to handle. I was very close to my mum.’
Mr Cohen and Ms Hertz were unavailable for comment last night. Clarkson declined to comment.