Jeremy Clarkson Roasts “T-Shirt Burnham” Over Barbecue Ban In Savage New Column — And Fans Can’t Stop Laughing

Just days after declaring war on the government over prostate cancer testing, Jeremy Clarkson is back with another target in his sights — and this time, it’s sausages.

In his latest column for The Sun, Clarkson turned his attention to Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s decision to ban the sale of disposable barbecues across the country, part of a wider response to the wildfire risk during Britain’s fifth heatwave of the summer. And true to form, Clarkson wasn’t exactly diplomatic about it.

He opened by listing off the genuine causes of wildfires during a heatwave — broken-down farm machinery, discarded cigarettes, bored teenagers looking for a laugh, even a stray piece of broken glass acting like a magnifying glass in dry grass. Real, boring, unglamorous causes that don’t make for a punchy headline.

And then, in classic Clarkson style, he delivered the line that’s now doing the rounds on social media: our glorious leader has decided the real problem is the disposable barbecue, and so — of course — he’s banned it, because that’s apparently just how the current government operates.

The nickname stuck almost instantly. “T-Shirt Burnham” is now trending in the comments under every article covering the story, with fans delighting in Clarkson’s signature blend of mockery and mock-outrage. His argument, stripped of the jokes, is a familiar one from the Clarkson playbook: that banning a cheap, popular, harmless-when-used-properly product is an easy headline-grabbing move that doesn’t actually address the real issue, while ordinary people lose a small, simple pleasure — a few sausages on the grass on a sunny day.

It’s worth noting the government’s side too. Fire services across the country have logged thousands of callouts this summer alone, with disposable barbecues repeatedly named as a preventable cause of grass fires during tinder-dry conditions — and several supermarkets and local councils had already pulled them from shelves and banned them from parks and beaches before the national policy even arrived. Critics of Clarkson’s take argue that “of course he has” is a punchy line, but doesn’t actually explain why removing one avoidable ignition source during an extreme fire-risk summer is a bad idea.

Either way, this is Clarkson doing what Clarkson does best — turning a policy story most people would scroll past into something genuinely entertaining, while landing a political point at the same time. Combined with his ongoing row with the government over the PSA testing changes, it’s clear the Diddly Squat farmer isn’t done picking fights with Westminster this summer. Whether you agree with him on the barbecues or not, one thing’s for certain: “T-Shirt Burnham” isn’t going away as a nickname any time soon.