‘We’re not there to police people’s ethics’ Met chief Sir Mark Rowley rules out probe into Jeremy Clarkson’s comments on Meghan Markle saying he doesn’t believe he has committed a ‘hate crime’ but will ‘keep a close eye’
- Sir Mark Rowley says Clarkson will not face a hate crime probe into his column
- Clarkson wrote of how he dreamt of seeing the royal ‘parade naked’ in the street
- An ITV bosses resist calls to sack the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire presenter
- The managing director of ITV Studios said he will remain a host ‘at the moment’
Britain’s top police chief has today ruled out a hate crime probe into Jeremy Clarkson following the TV host’s controversial comments about the Duchess of Sussex.
Sir Mark Rowley, the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said officers were ‘not there to police people’s ethics’.
The commissioner’s comments came after ex-Top Gear star Clarkson sparked a furious backlash following his column about Meghan Markle.
In a column for the Sun, the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire host wrote how he was ‘dreaming of the day’ when the royal was ‘made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while crowds chant, “Shame!” and throw lumps of excrement at her’.
Jeremy Clarkson, pictured, has come under fire over his controversial column about the Duchess of Sussex
Sir Mark Rowley, Met Police Commissioner, ruled out an official probe into Clarkson following the TV star’s column but said he would ‘keep an eye’ on the star
Sir Mark warned he would ‘keep a close eye’ on the under-fire celeb but stopped short of saying a police investigation would be launched.
‘The police should only get involved when speech becomes threatening or incites violence – we’re not there to police people’s ethics,’ Sir Mark told LBC.
Asked if Clarkson had committed a hate crime, the police chef added: ‘There’s a line to be drawn. It’s not for police to get involved in anything that’s about “is something ethical, is it moral. Is it proper, is it offensive”.
‘The legal lines are only crossed, generally, when things are said that are intended or likely to stir up or incite violence.
‘I don’t think this is one of those cases but of course we will keep a close eye on it.’
Clarkson has come under intense pressure to be sacked from his role hosting Who Wants To Be A Millionaire on ITV and to have his shows on Amazon Prime axed.
Despite the controversy surrounding the presenter, ITV boss Kevin Lygo last night sided with the star, insisting he would not be sacked from the quiz show.
Speaking at a Broadcasting Press Guild event in London on Monday, Mr Lygo, managing director of ITV Studios, said: ‘I would say what he writes in a newspaper column… We have no control over what he says.
‘We hire him as a consummate broadcaster of the most famous quiz on television, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
Jeremy Clarkson is facing calls to be sacked from his role as host of ITV’s Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
‘So it’s not quite in our wheelhouse but I don’t know what he was thinking when he wrote that. It was awful.’
When asked if ITV will keep Clarkson as host of the quiz show, a position he inherited from Chris Tarrant in 2018, Mr Lygo said: ‘Yes, at the moment we are.’
Asked if Clarkson represents ITV’s values, Mr Lygo replied: ‘No, of course he doesn’t in that instance.’
On Monday, Clarkson responded to the controversy caused by his column. Writing on Twitter, he said: ‘Oh dear. I’ve rather put my foot in it. In a column I wrote about Meghan, I made a clumsy reference to a scene in Game of Thrones and this has gone down badly with a great many people.
‘I’m horrified to have caused so much hurt and I shall be more careful in future.’
In an apparent reference to the iconic Walk of Shame scene in Game of Thrones, the ex-Top Gear host added that he wants to see ‘people throwing lumps of excrement’ at Meghan
The apology follows Clarkson’s column which said that he despised the Duchess of Sussex ‘on a cellular level’ and expressed that he wanted to see ‘people throwing lumps of excrement at her’.
It was published a day after Harry and Meghan released the final part of their six-part Netflix docuseries about their decision to step away from royal duties and make a new start in the US.
The article also took aim at Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, and has sparked criticism among MPs, celebrities and even Clarkson’s daughter.
Yet it is not the first time that an ITV presenter has been complained of for targeting Meghan Markle.
Last year, Piers Morgan resigned from Good Morning Britain after ‘disbelieving’ some of Meghan’s claims of feeling suicidal made during hers and Harry’s explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Ofcom has since revealed that the broadcast was the most complained of TV show in 2021 receiving 54,595 complaints.
The now TalkTV presenter weighed in on the Clarkson incident, tweeting: ‘Imagine if all those screaming with rage about Jeremy Clarkson felt the same protective anger towards those who’ve branded our Royal Family callous lying racist bullies – without producing any actual evidence for these cruel allegations?’
Despite this, Piers did clarify that he was not ‘defending what Clarkson wrote’.
The article was removed from The Sun’s website at Clarkson’s request
Although Clarkson’s article was removed from The Sun’s website at his request, the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) said it has become its most complained about article.
By 5pm on Tuesday it had received more than 20,800 complaints in total.
Ipso stated: ‘We will follow our usual processes to examine the complaints we have received. This will take longer than usual because of the volume of complaints.
‘Ipso works to uphold editorial standards by deciding whether the Editors’ Code of Practice has been breached in individual cases; monitoring trends in editorial standards; and making interventions to improve standards.’
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