Jeremy Clarkson 'instructs lawyers' over Jimmy Savile smearFriends claim Top Gear host is furious over comparison and is determined to identify the source 
James Purnell, the former Labour MP for Stalybridge and Hyde in Manchester who now works for the BBC, has compared Clarkson to SavileJeremy Clarkson has instructed lawyers to demand an immediate retraction from the BBC after a senior employee compared him to Jimmy Savile, it has emerged.
The Top Gear host is said to be furious about the "defamatory" smear and is determined to identity the executive behind it.
His friends told the Daily Mail that he believes it was a source connected to the office of former Labour minister James Purnell, now the BBC's £295,000-a-year head of strategy.
The allegations were published in the Mail on Sunday, which quoted a BBC chief "directly involved in the fallout" surrounding Clarkson's suspension following his row with Oisin Tymon, a Top Gear producer, at a North Yorkshire hotel.
The source said that politicians – including the Prime Minister – were turning a blind eye to Clarkson's bad behaviour, in the same way as people once did with Savile, the now notorious paedophile.
"If you look at what David Cameron says or what (former culture and media Secretary) Maria Miller says and you swap Clarkson for Savile, you get this: David Cameron is effectively saying that Savile's a real talent, Maria Miller saying Savile will be Savile," the source was quoted as saying.
Mr Cameron, who is a close friend of Clarkson, has publicly defended the star, saying his children would be heartbroken if Top Gear was taken off air.
A BBC spokesman said: "To suggest that James Purnell is involved is categorically untrue and ridiculous."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/top ... smear.html