COTSWOLD'S Jeremy Clarkson has been condemned this week for a newspaper column in which he said he "hated" Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex.

The Independent Press Standards Organisation's (Ipso) most complained-about article, the regulator has said.

Ipso said the piece, which was removed from The Sun's website on Monday at Clarkson's request, had received more than 17,500 complaints as of 9am on Tuesday - rising to 20,800 by 5pm.

The reaction surpassed the total number of complaints the media regulator received in 2021 - 14,355.

Also more than 60 MPs have written to the editor of The Sun condemning the column.

In the piece published on Friday, Clarkson, 62, wrote he dreamed of Meghan being paraded through British towns and publicly shamed, adding that "everyone who's my age thinks the same way".

The article attracted criticism from high-profile figures, politicians, and his own daughter, Emily Clarkson.

A spokesman for the regulator said: "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."

And in Evesham a pub has permanently banned a beer endorsed by Jeremy Clarkson after his inflammatory comments.

Red Lion landlord Tom Doggett has removed Hawkstone lager from the pumps at the Evesham pub and replaced it with Brew 61’s Leaping Lambs.

Mr Clarkson bought Diddly Squat Farm in Chadlington in 2008 which was run by a local villager but after he retired in 2019, Clarkson decided to see if he could run it himself.

His attempts were documented for Amazon Prime TV series Clarkson’s Farm which charted the difficulties faced by farm workers during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Earlier on Tuesday, a group of 60 MPs wrote to the editor of The Sun, Victoria Newton, to condemn the article "in the strongest terms".

The cross-party group, led by Conservative MP Caroline Nokes, said the "hateful" article had contributed to an "unacceptable climate of hatred and violence", and demanded that the publication take action against Clarkson.

"We are horrified at the recent article by Jeremy Clarkson in your publication. As parliamentarians of every persuasion, we condemn in the strongest terms the violent misogynistic language against the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle," the letter read.

"This sort of language has no place in our country, and it is unacceptable that it was allowed to be published in a mainstream newspaper. Ms Markle has faced multiple credible threats to her life, requiring the intervention of the Metropolitan Police.

"Hateful articles like the one written by Mr Clarkson do not exist in a vacuum, and directly contribute to this unacceptable climate of hatred and violence."

As well as being the host of Amazon's The Grand Tour, alongside Richard Hammond and James May, Clarkson also presents Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? on ITV.

"Following grotesque comments made about the First Minister and the Duchess of Sussex, I do not believe Jeremy Clarkson should be allowed back on our screens. I've written to the chief executive of @ITV." Mr Nicolson wrote.

Writing on Twitter, Clarkson said he was "horrified to have caused so much hurt" following the backlash and that he would "be more careful in future".

It follows the recent broadcast of Harry and Meghan's explosive six-part Netflix documentary, in which the couple made allegations of mistreatment by the royal family.

The first three episodes saw Meghan accuse the British media of wanting to "destroy" her and claim "salacious" stories were "planted" in the press.