Clarkson’s Farm star, Jeremy Clarkson and his co-star Kaleb Cooper, led thousands of farmers at a rally in Parliament Square in Westminster today to protest against the Government’s inheritance tax on farms

Jeremy Clarkson has defied his doctor’s orders by joining an army of farmers descending on Westminster to protest against Labour’s new inheritance tax.

The Clarkson’s Farm star, 64, had an emergency operation on his heart in October and was warned to stay away from ‘stressful situations’ . However, the TV presenter was determined to go to join the mass protest and show his support for his fellow farmers, who are protesting against the Government’s new taxes for farms.

Speaking about the impassioned rally, which will hear from celebrities and farming leaders on a procession to Parliament Square, Jeremy said he would not have missed the event.

Clarkson – who was joined by his Clarkson’s Farm star Kaleb Cooper at the rally – said he was leading ‘two coaches of farmers’ from Diddly Squad to highlight a ‘hugely important issue.’

Clarkson’s Farm star, Jeremy Clarkson, has rocked up at a rally at Parliament Square ( 
Image:
PA)

The Top Gear star, who was pictured arriving Parliament Square today with Kaleb, has also been in talks with organisers to give a speech as a row about the new “tractor tax” deepens.

Kids on toy tractors are also protesting ( 
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Getty Images)
Joining Jeremy at the rally were a convoy of tractors driving through Parliament Square, Westminster where farmers are due to stage protests calling for the Government to scrap its changes to agricultural inheritance tax ahead of protests in Westminster.

Protests already erupted outside the Welsh Labour conference over the new taxes for farms worth more than £1 million, which have been fulled by uncertainty about Treasury figures the Budget bombshell is based on.

They’re not happy! ( 
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Jonathan Buckmaster)
The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) is holding a mass lobby of MPs with 1,800 of its members – three times as many people as originally planned – to urge backbenchers to stand up to the Government’s plans to impose inheritance tax on farms worth more than £1 million.

And thousands more are expected to join a separate rally in Whitehall as they protest against last month’s Budget, which also sped up the phase out of EU-era subsidies as funding is switched to nature-friendly farming schemes.

Farmers have reacted with anger to the inheritance tax changes for farming businesses, which limit the existing 100% relief for farms to only the first £1 million of combined agricultural and business property.For anything above that, landowners will pay a 20% tax rate, rather than the standard 40% rate of inheritance tax (IHT) applied to other land and property.

Last week, Jeremy accused the government of “ethnically cleansing” the British countryside to make way for “immigrant towns” on farmland.

Joining Jeremy at the rally were a convoy of tractors driving through Parliament Square ( 

Image:
Getty Images)Writing in his Sun column to criticise the inheritance tax extension proposed by Chancellor Rachel Reeves, he wrote: “I’m becoming more and more convinced that Starmer and Reeves have a sinister plan. They want to carpet bomb our farmland with new towns for immigrants and net zero wind farms.”

Speaking to broadcasters at the G20 summit in Brazil on Monday, Sir Keir Starmer insisted “the vast majority of farms” will not be affected by the reforms.

“On the question inheritance tax, look I do understand that it’s causing concern,” the Prime Minister said.

“But if you take a typical case of a couple wanting to pass a family farm down to one of their children, which would be a very typical example, with all of the thresholds in place, that’s £3 million before any inheritance tax is paid.

“And that’s why I’m confident that the vast majority of farms and farmers will not be affected at all by that aspect of the budget.

“They will be affected by the £5 billion that we’re putting into farming, and I’m very happy to work with farmers on that.”

Demonstrators displayed placards as the rally gathered pace ( 
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Getty Images)
Jeremy’s appearance at the protest comes after he was warned by his doctor to take it easy. The dad-of-of-three ended up in hospital in October before candidly revealing that he’d undergone a heart procedure following a “sudden deterioration” in his wellbeing.

The Grand Tour presenter experienced difficulty climbing stairs after a swim while on holiday, and his condition didn’t improve upon returning to the UK.

As reported at the time, the former Top Gear host shared that he felt “clammy,” experienced a “tightness” in his chest and had “pins and needles” in his left arm. Concerned of a potential heart attack, he sought medical attention and ended up going to hospital in an ambulance, where he said they ruled out a heart attack following an ECG, blood tests and X-rays.

After it was decided Jeremy would need a stent to improve the blood flow to the heart, Jeremy summed up his time in hospital, writing in his column for the Sunday Times: “It wasn’t especially painful. Just odd,” adding that he has thought since: “Crikey, that was close.”

He also tried to make light of the situation admitting that he was “wondering what water tastes like and if it’s possible to make celery interesting” after his health scare. Jeremy has already given up smoking after he got pneumonia while on holiday in Spain.