Jeremy Clarkson eviscerates 'woke' Keir Starmer over 'deluded' smoking ban

Jeremy Clarkson has raged at Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer of his plans to ban smoking in the outdoor areas of pubs. The Clarkson's Farm star, who recently opened the doors to his own Cotswolds pub The Farmer's Dog, described the move as a " Stalinist decree".

Conceding that the smoking issue was one he struggled with when he was preparing to open the bar he acknowledged some people can't abide the smell.

Therefore he put up signs in the outdoor space saying: “You like smoking. Others might not. If you smoke, please be considerate.”

"In my mind, that’s how a society should work. Assume that the vast majority of people are intelligent and compassionate and let them get on with it," he said. He compared the situation to vegans name checking Ricky Gervais and pointing out he is a vegan who loves animals but doesn't insist others turn vegan.

"Sadly, however, Sir Starmer does not think like this. He doesn’t like smoking so he’s going to ban it. And then, to make this Stalinist decree sound reasonable, he says the illnesses smoking cause cost the NHS a huge amount of money every year," Jeremy ranted in The Sun.

Explaining the folly in this reasoning Jeremy pointed to the huge revenue raised by the tax on cigarettes every yer to the tune of £10billion.

"Without that coming in, the £22billion “black hole” Starmer keeps droning on about will become £32billion. He says he can pay for all this by taxing the rich, but he’s deluded," he added.

He ended his column by declaring: "He really is Woke Wilson and I literally can’t think of anything more dangerous."

Jeremy's remarks came after it was revealed  Labour will look to extend the current smoking ban to all outdoor public places.  This would make it illegal to smoke outside at a restaurant, or even in the smoking area of a nightclub.

The Prime Minister confirmed to journalists in Paris that he is looking at changes to smoking laws after leaked documents, seen by the Sun , suggested smoking would be banned in outside sports stadiums, in children's parks, in pub gardens, outside nightclubs, on restaurant terraces, on pavements by universities and hospitals and in Shisha bars.

Asked about the reports, Mr Starmer said: "My starting point on this is to remind everybody that over 80,000 people lose their lives every year because of smoking.

"That is a preventable death, it's a huge burden on the NHS and, of course, it is a burden on the taxpayer.

"So, yes, we are going to take decisions in this space, more details will be revealed, but this is a preventable series of deaths and we've got to take action to reduce the burden on the NHS and the taxpayer."