Jeremy Clarkson has risked “going to prison” by admitting he believes the NHS would be better off in private hands.
The 65-year-old writer and broadcaster hit out at government control following the decision to nationalise British Steel this month.
Writing in his column for The Times, Clarkson began by celebrating the move to prevent Chinese giant Jingye from closing down Britain’s last steel plant.
He described the state takeover, stopping the UK from becoming the only G7 member with no domestic steel production, as “heartwarming and full of righteousness”.
The former Top Gear presenter also couldn’t help but share his glee at both Tories and Labour being forced to “come face to face with reality”.
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Clarkson acknowledged the Conservatives had been forced to recognise the necessity of sometimes shelving their libertarian instincts for the national good.
He also relished Labour, particularly Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Ed Miliband, for having to back down on Net Zero zealotry to back British industry.
“We do need to be able to make steel here, because like farming, it’s vital for national security,” the 65-year-old insisted.
However, Clarkson warned the rescue of British Steel may prompt the Labour Government to further embrace nationalisation, which he considered an “absurd notion”.
To that end, Clarkson braved “going to prison” by applying the same logic to the NHS.
“The National Health Service would work better if it was privatised. Because everything does,” he declared.
The 65-year-old continued: “One of the advantages about being old is that I can remember the 1970s. So I know for a fact that nationalised industries do not work.”
The Clarkson’s Farm star then despaired about a future guided by the “extremely bearded” Business Secretary, Jonathan Reynolds.
On the one hand, he feared Reynolds and Government in general’s lack of intimate knowledge about various industries would be disastrous compared to private ownership.
“Sure, Thames Water is a disgrace and the service is diabolical. But can you imagine what things would be like if Angela Rayner was running it?” he questioned.
Clarkson also imagined Reynolds being “urged” by Miliband to: “Urging him to try and make metal using daffodils and tofu.”
As a final demonstration of his point, the former Grand Tour star brought up the “handy reminder of the hopelessness of Government” in the Millenium Dome, now The O2.
At its inception, he blasted the Dome’s “proto-woke b******s” features such as “the faith zone and the celebration of ethnicity and that hollow woman”.
Clarkson blamed the apparent initial failure of the project on “Tony Blair and Peter Mandelson and various other Government idiots”.
However, now in private hands, he extolled the continued success of the arena, 25 years after it was planned to close.
“Maybe because the frame was made out of privatised British steel,” the 65-year-old concluded cheekily.
