It's been a terrible year for farming, Jeremy Clarkson tells Tory conference

Jeremy Clarkson has said it had been a "terrible" year for farming due to the hot weather, at a surprise appearance at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham.

The former Top Gear presenter and star of Clarkson's Farm also said farmers were being "attacked" from every angle by rising costs, but he was optimistic about the future.

He was greeted by loud applause from the Tory faithful, but joked that "a lot of people have come dressed as seats, I notice, around the edges there".

In a question and answer session alongside land agent Charlie Ireland, he also criticised the economic conditions faced by business owners, asking: "Why would anybody set up a business in this country right now?"

Clarkson - who also hosts ITV's Who Wants to be a Millionaire - was introduced to the stage by the Conservative shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins.

Asked what kind of year he had had on the farm, Clarkson said: "We worked really hard all year and we ended up with, I think I'm right in saying, three ounces of hen food.

"It was an absolute disaster on the farming side but, I mean, luckily we've got other projects going on now.

"But the farming is very, very difficult – very, very difficult at the moment."