Jeremy Clarkson issues scathing statement after Angela Rayner's tax admission

Jeremy Clarkson has fired a scathing swipe at deputy prime minister Angela Rayner after she admitted failing to pay the correct amount of stamp duty on her second home. The former Top Gear presenter, 65, didn't hold back as he took aim at the Labour frontbencher in a brutal post on X, declaring: "Crikey. The deputy prime minister of the UK has admitted she doesn't understand how tax works. I wonder what else she doesn't understand."

Clarkson, known for his fiery opinions and digs at politicians, couldn't resist piling on. When a follower mocked him in the comments, writing: "You clearly do, Mr 'Farmer'...," the broadcaster clapped back: "The only tax savings I'll ever enjoy are when I'm dead!!!" Rayner, from Stockport, recently confessed she had underpaid the levy on a flat in Hove and admitted she had even considered resigning over the matter. The Labour deputy leader said she initially acted on legal advice when purchasing the property, which suggested she was "liable to pay standard stamp duty."

But after media scrutiny, she sought "further advice from a leading tax counsel" and discovered she was required to pay more.

She said: "I'm working to resolve the matter and pay what is due."

The revelation caused a storm at Westminster. Reports suggested Rayner had saved around £40,000 because her name was removed from the deeds of a family home in Ashton-under-Lyne, leaving the Hove flat as her sole property.

She has since said the arrangement was tied to care plans for her disabled son, and that she referred herself to the standards watchdog.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer publicly backed his deputy, insisting at PMQs: "I'm proud to sit alongside her." But critics in the Conservative Party seized on the admission, with Tory leader Kemi Badenoch using the row to call for Labour's housing secretary to be sacked.

The broadcaster, who runs his Diddly Squat farm in Chadlington near Chipping Norton, regularly uses his newspaper columns and social media platforms to poke fun at politicians.

He previously branding Starmer 'hopeless' and accusing the Labour government of being out of touch with ordinary people.

He's also derided Starmer as "a nightmare for farmers," slammed his Budget as nothing short of "a hammer blow to the back of the head" for British agriculture, and even went so far as to say Labour's front bench "genuinely think they can spend whatever they like on whatever harebrained scheme they've come up with that week," accusing them of being out of touch with real life.

Angela, 45, who joined the Labour front bench in 2016, said the saga had been "deeply stressful" and admitted she was initially misled by professional guidance. But she insisted she was committed to paying the full sum and clearing up the row.

Clarkson's scathing remarks will add pressure on Labour to shake off the scandal as the government faces mounting questions over tax transparency.