Doncaster's Jeremy Clarkson says both Conservatives and Labour are 'busted flush'

The Grand Tour and Who Wants To Be A Millonaire? host tore into both parties, saying the country would be better run by the Tufty Club – the 1970s children’s road safety campaign.

Writing in The Sun before the announcement of Rishi Sunak as PM, the motormouth star said: “I know Liz Truss came across like a talking doll but when it became clear she was cutting income tax, I imagined everyone would rush off to the pub to celebrate. But they didn’t. Instead, everyone went nuts.

“I’m not talking about the financial institutions here. They had their own ­reasons for being cross. I’m talking about everyone else.

“We’d been told we would pay less tax every week and we were furious. This is strange.

“But we are living in strange times because we seem to have got it in to our heads that we should rely on the government to help us out every time anything goes wrong.

“This means we actually want them to have our money.

“Turn on the BBC news and every night there’s someone weeping and wailing about how they need government money to mend their poorly baby, or fix the cladding on their flat, or pay their gas bill or feed their dog.

“We have it in our heads that we will look after ourselves in the good times but when things go south, the government should step in with a blank cheque.

“Even the banks are at it. “We gambled a load of money we didn’t actually have, and we lost. So can you bail us out, please?”

“Of course, this communistical attitude might work if the government was run by sensible people with kind hearts and backbones made from steel. But it isn’t.

“Truss was a nightmare. And there’s no sign that this sorry state of affairs will change any time soon.

“The Conservative Party is a busted flush.

“It held a referendum on Europe to stop its members fighting internally about the issue but today the war between Remainers and Brexiteers is more vicious than ever.

“Which is why we spent the summer without a leader. And it’s why we haven’t got one now.

“They can’t agree internally on who should have the reins.

“And when I look at the options, the problem’s even bigger than which wing of the party they’re on.

“All I can think is, “Oh my God. We’d be better off choosing someone from my local Tufty Club”.

“And it’s not like the Labour Party is any better.

“We didn’t like it at the last election in 2019 so I see no reason why we should like it now.

2Sure, the leader has changed but it still has Diane Abbott in it — and I don’t want that innumerate idiot anywhere near the purse strings.

2She’s worse than Truss and that’s saying something.

“Right now, our economy is in a mess.

“The world is in a mess. Supply chains are broken. Inflation is out of control. Gas is in short supply.

“So life for all of us in the coming year is going to be tough.

“And I don’t care what they say: neither of the main parties will be able to do anything to help.

“So maybe it’s time for someone to start a new one.

“Any volunteers? No, not you Nigel . . . ”