Jeremy Clarkson says he hung a photo of Will & Kate in his BBC office (Picture: Tom Wren / SWNS)
Jeremy Clarkson has claimed the BBC asked him to remove a poster of Margaret Thatcher – so he replaced it with a picture of Prince William and Kate Middleton.
The former Top Gear presenter, 62, was among the famous faces who recently supported Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker in his row with the BBC.
Lineker, also 62, blasted the government’s controversial anti-immigration policy on Twitter, comparing the language used to that of 1930’s Germany.
When Lineker ‘stepped back’ from presenting the football review show, many of his colleagues also declined to appear, a move Clarkson supported.
Former footballer and current pundit Ian Wright announced he would stand beside Lineker, to which Clarkson responded: ‘Good on you, mate.’
Now, in his latest column, Clarkson has claimed that, despite what people may believe, the BBC is not run by Tories, and that everyone he met working there in 25 years was ‘flaming red’ – a Labour supporter.
He claimed that, during his time at the BBC, he was even asked to take down a poster of controversial late Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
Clarkson says the picture of Will and Kate made people ‘even angrier’ (Picture: Chris Jackson/Getty)
‘I know someone who was told to take down his Union Jack because it was “offensive” [to others in the BBC offices]’, Clarkson claimed, writing for the Sunday Times.
He continued, saying: ‘I was asked to remove my poster of Mrs. Thatcher because it was upsetting people who walked past.’
‘[I took the Thatcher poster down] and replaced it with a picture of Kate and Wills, which somehow made [BBC colleagues] even angrier.’
In his column, he also suggested that the BBC wouldn’t let him do Top Gear now.
‘Remember, what everyone on every BBC platform fears more than anything is a Twitter backlash, so to try to keep that festival of left-wing madness happy, they have to be even more left wing and even more right-on,’ he wrote.
Clarkson has said the BBC wouldn’t let host Top Gear today (Picture: Amazon Studios)
‘And they have to make sure that every show is pitch-perfect to the BLT+ community and the ethnic minority communities and the community communities, and when you’re thinking defensively like that, the concept of informing and educating and entertaining pretty much goes out of the window.’
‘Could I do Top Gear there now? Not a chance.’
William and Kate, the Prince and Princess of Wales, were mentioned frequently in Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare, the fastest-selling non-fiction book of all time.
In one chapter, Harry alleged that he and his brother William became engaged in an argument about Markle and that William ‘physically attacked’ him.
Clarkson also alleged that he was told to support recent public sector strikes on The One Show to prevent ‘awkward scenes’ on the evening BBC show.
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In recent days, the former Top Gear presenter has claimed that the BBC would not not allow him to present the motor show in the present day.
‘Remember, what everyone on every BBC platform fears more than anything is a Twitter backlash, so to try to keep that festival of left-wing madness happy.’
The BBC declined to comment when approached by Metro.co.uk.
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It is not known when the alleged incident took place.