Jeremy Clarkson ‘fed up’ with people ‘whingeing’ over quality of the free school meal parcels

Jeremy Clarkson says he’s ‘really quite fed up’ with certain people ‘whingeing’ over the quality of free school meals. 

Multi-millionaire Jeremy Clarkson who regularly shares his troubles online – like that time his chef prepared truffles for breakfast, or that time he couldn’t decide which of his Range Rovers to use – has pitched in with his views on the quality of the government’s free school meals for children. 

While Clarkson can agree that there is some ‘shameless profiteering’ going on, he can’t help but point out that he is ‘fed up to the back teeth of the whingeing’ from ‘certain people’.

Writing in his Sunday Times column, the Grand Tour host said: “On the food front, I think [Marcus Rashford’s] fight is noble and well-judged, and I agree that some shameless profiteering is going on.”

The journalist, who is estimated to be worth around £60m, added: “But I am fed up to the back teeth of the whingeing this story unleashed.

“We live in a country where children from less well-off families are entitled to free lunches when they are at home. Yippee.

“But instead of celebrating that fact, and concentrating on making sure the food they get is not half an ounce of mould and a dead dog, I heard a woman on the news the other day demanding that she be given £30 to provide lunch for her child. Thirty quid? Where’s she going to take him? Fortnum & Mason?”

The presenter went on to blast those who would prefer a supermarket voucher than the food hampers, suggesting they would exchange it for ‘fags and scratchcards’. 

But bashing hungry kids wasn’t enough for Clarkson on this particular Sunday, when he eventually turned his attention to teachers in his column titled ‘Where’s our Dunkirk spirit? Indoors, moaning that the sea’s a bit choppy and the boat smells’.

He wrote: “And don’t get me started on teachers, because, as far as I can tell, instead of working out how they will educate their pupils in these troubled times, every single one of them is to be found on the news every night, with his laptop at the wrong angle and a terrible painting in the background, saying that Boris Johnson should buy every child in the land an iPad and that no teacher should have to work again, ever.”

He concluded: “In the olden days, a British person would have dealt with these trials by going outside to help push the stuck vaccine delivery lorry. But not any more.

“Now, we’re more likely to storm out of the tent in a sulk of shuddering shoulders and tears, saying, ‘I am just going outside and may be some time — and if you don’t like it, you can all eff off. And I want a free laptop’.”

Following the widespread pressure from the public after images of the food hampers emerged across social media last week the government reintroduced school vouchers for eligible pupils. 

A report published in December by the Social Market Foundation estimated that 14% of British children – totalling to 1.7 million children – have suffered such persistent hunger over the course of the coronavirus pandemic they could be classed as enduring ‘very low food security’. 

You can read Clarkson’s arguably rather ‘whingey’ article here and donate to FareShare here.