Jeremy Clarkson has blasted the BBC's move to Salford – branding the city a 'small suburb' and saying he would quit rather than relocate.
The Top Gear presenter used his Sunday newspaper column today to take a swipe at the corporation's decision to move a string of departments to MediaCityUK.
He described Salford 'a small suburb with a Starbucks and a canal with ducks on it' and said that he would resign if the motoring programme was moved north.
Clarkson - who reportedly receives a £2m-a-year salary from the BBC – claimed the decision to move five departments to brand new buildings at Salford Quays was based on politics, saying 'it was a box that has been ticked'.
Comment: Motormouth Clarkson is in the wrong gear
The 51-year-old also slammed Salford's heritage – saying its only claim to fame was a train accident involving Stephenson's Rocket.
He made no mention of famous Salfordians like Emmeline Pankhurst, LS Lowry, film director Mike Leigh and Sir Peter Maxwell-Davies, the Master of the Queen's Music.
Clarkson wrote: “It [Salford] is nowhere near any court that matters and nowhere near a single politician.
“Furthermore, if we ran the show from Salford, we'd be employing people from Salford.
“People who were born there and thought 'Yes, I like this. I see no reason to go anywhere else'.
“And in the world of television that could be a genuine handicap.
“Every year we'd end up making a Christmas special from the Dog and Duck or the nearest Arndale Centre.”
Today the BBC distanced themselves from Clarkson's comments - with insiders saying he should take a trip to the new offices before slating the city.
Salford council leader John Merry said: “These comments make Clarkson look like a slightly more sophisticated version of Alf Garnett.
“He needs to come to Salford to see that hundreds of people are gaining qualifications to make sure they are employable in the media industry.”
Clarkson currently lives in Chipping Norton, an affluent village in the Cotswolds.
A spokeswoman for the BBC said that he would not face disciplinary action for his comments.
But a source within the BBC told us: “Clearly Jeremy Clarkson hasn't been to MediaCity to see for himself the potential impact it will have.”
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Please please and please again. On yer bike loser!
Hes right.
Well Clarkson take your bat and ball home then we can do with out over inflated boys here, go and play with your cars in London.
Erm... replace him.
Parasites need the host body rather than the other way around.
outspoken fool,go and save the licence payers 2 million a year
Good.
What he should have said was that the BBC needs to be privatised and relocation decision would then be made on a business case rather than a political one.
idiot, i'd to see this clown sacked.....
His comments prove what an overpaid imbecile Clarkson actually is.
I do not see how he can judge Salford when he has not seen it for himself.
I do congratulate him though as he has most probably just lost a large number of viewers for his show,due to his snooty and pompous misconceptions of a suburb he has never been to.
Thank god he wants to stay daan saath; this man has got under my skin since the first time I clapped eyes on him. Quote " this car is very nice but the extra turbo version with go faster stripes and a 20 speaker stereo is worth the £90.000 you will have to part with".
Although you can't take Jeremy seriously, the idea he espouses itself has some traction amongst London/South East media types.
Their argument is of course wrong, their logic, circular.
It boils down to this : London has everything, and City X doesn't, therefore everything should be/stay in London, and the UK should remain the most centralised country in Western Europe.
It's by attracting certain operations of the BBC that Salford will have *something*, that in turn attracts other businesses. So that the next time Salford is vying for some other business or national project the argument isn't 'Salford just has a canal and some ducks'.
Has Jeremy spent some time in Salford?
Because if he hasn't he must be he must have read up quite a bit ...he's got it bang on.
Top marks to you fella, I'm from the Greater Manchester area' and couldn't have described it better myself.
Let's be honest, Salford is not a small suburb, it's a city with a tiny city centre and in reality is just one of Manchesters areas. It's also in huge part crime ridden and has a lot of undesirable people living there who certainly make me believe that the human race is not as advanced as we might think. If I were clarkeson I wouldn't wanna come anywhere near the place
Baggy faced,inaccurate,racist,pointless,boring,cretin.James May and that small wrinkled child will be secretly rubbing their hands with glee.
He is funny in an ignorant, bigotted sort of way
Please, please move it up here double-quick BBC and spend £2m pa on something more useful to humanity, like a sculpture of a carrot.
Quick, please relocate TOP GEAR to SALFORD, there's plenty of people willing to do your job for less than £2 MILLION a year (a scandalous amount of money, nobody needs that much to live on).
Plank!
I was born in Salford and proud of it,I suggest Jeremy does his homework and finds out abitmore about the city before making such sweeping statements, he is a prima donna who thinks he is too good to move north, think again, where are you from Mr C, humble origins I believe, don't forget that and keep your insults to yourself.
Lol Starbucks and a canal with ducks in it..... like it.
Half of the Isle of Man still want to push him into the sea after he blocked off a footpath, and I'm assuming his wife still wants to strangle him after that dodgy photo got out.
He should be made to travel to work upstairs on an old GM double decker bus to Media City. (Preferably the one that tipped over in the 2007 Top Gear episode).
Great news we wont have to put up with smug Clarkson ,what a waste of licence fees.Hes outdated overweight and to full of himself ..get a new presenter .
I do not think that he is afraid because he has been shot at before and his his car stolen.
Idiot we dont want you down here anyway. Nobody is too big for the BBC Clarkeson your a first class plonker with just a idea of what car to drive. You are funny but when you have to use other people and belittle them to gain publicity you are pretty sad. I hope they move down here and you lose 2 million a year, maybe you should have used your column to talk about how that 2 million could be spent on the less fortunate ( I wish I could swear on here) You are a JOKE!
Good riddance to bad rubbish close the door on the way out Clarkson and that will save my licence (tax) 2mil a year, maybe they could show some football instead of rubbish over priced stupid cars that kill the environment and remove your licence from your pocket
don,t care if he stays or not but how is he getting 2 million a yearto host a cildish tv show