JEREMY CLARKSON is a man full of hate and has been allowed to get away with it for too long.

He incites hatred of women and black people and of others. Who can forget when he said that trade unionists standing up for themselves should be taken out and shot?

Misogyny and racism are normalised in this way. Clarkson’s words go as far as promoting misogyny — they send a signal that it’s OK to use violent, misogynistic language — and that there won’t be any consequences.

This isn’t just a debate among the media and politicians – it impacts the real world. This weekend I had emails from my Jarrow constituents about the effect Clarkson’s words about Meghan Markle would have. One of them, Susan, said: “The comments were racist and misogynistic and represent the worst kind of oppression by powerful white men.”

I completely agree with Susan. I sit on the women and equalities committee in Parliament and we see and hear first hand the impact this normalisation of racism, sexism and misogyny has on society.

This is not free speech, it’s not “banter,” it’s not dark humour, it’s not a “clumsy reference.” It’s not just to “sell books,” as was suggested by one Clarkson defender.

Words matter — and they have consequences.

Clarkson’s vile, sexualised comments of dreaming about humiliating Markle, with her being paraded naked through the streets while crowds throw excrement at her, are horrific, dangerous and inexcusable. They are a blatant appeal to incite humiliation and violence on a woman – a woman already constantly vilified in our media.

As always it’s about power – power over women and the desire to silence their voices. How dare they speak out, or even exist?

We are in an epidemic of violence against women and girls – online and in real life – and hate-filled words such as Clarkson’s will only fuel further attacks.

Abusive white men with power and huge media platforms should not be exempt from accountability.

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.

Women and girls face harassment and abuse in their daily lives.

• In the UK, a woman is killed every three days by a man.
• There are more rape, domestic abuse and sexual offences than ever before, but legal action against dangerous perpetrators has plummeted.
• The overwhelming majority of rape victims will never see justice.

Yet that Clarkson can write such things, and the Sun unashamedly publish them, tells us all we need to know about the acceptance of misogyny and sexism, and this country’s weak laws around hate crimes, including those which govern social media sites.

The significant weakening of protections in the Online Safety Bill by the government gives a free pass to abusers.

Each day in Britain there are around 300 rapes, of which around 190 are reported.

Of those, only three rapists will see the inside of a courtroom, never mind a prison cell, and the rest will be free to abuse and rape again.

Rapes increase over the Christmas period yet, as 2022 draws to a close, the government’s commitment to introducing specialist rape courts has still not been met. Instead, there is a pilot scheme in just four locations, which rape survivors cannot select to have their cases heard in.

Clarkson has been widely condemned by MPs, comedians, other public figures and yes, even his daughter bravely and publicly disagreed with her father.

I have signed a letter alongside a number of MPs calling on the editor of the Sun to apologise.

The national media needs to join them in calling out the printing of his comments — yet the editor of the Sun wasn’t even asked about the Clarkson column when she appeared on Laura Kuenssberg’s Sunday political show.

It’s this lack of challenge that gives men the belief and confidence that it is OK to behave in this way.

Over 6,000 complaints about Clarkson’s piece had been received by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) by yesterday morning, but there are no real means of redress for Markle, or for any woman or girl on the receiving end of such violently misogynistic attacks by publishers.

The IPSO isn’t really a regulator, it handles complaints. It is controlled by the newspapers and has never issued a fine.

So, in this largely unregulated environment, and with such weak online protections, the press remains free to incite violence through publishing hateful comments, with impunity, and whatever the consequences for women.

Kate Osborne is MP for Jarrow. Twitter — @KateOsborneMP.