91Èȱ¬

The 91Èȱ¬'s director general Tony Hall has confirmed that Jeremy Clarkson will not have his Top Gear contract renewed, after a physical assault on one of his colleagues.

Here is his full statement.

It is with great regret that I have told Jeremy Clarkson today that the 91Èȱ¬ will not be renewing his contract. It is not a decision I have taken lightly. I have done so only after a very careful consideration of the facts and after personally meeting both Jeremy and Oisin Tymon.

I am grateful to Ken MacQuarrie for the thorough way he has conducted an investigation of the incident on 4 March. Given the obvious and very genuine public interest in this I am publishing the findings of his report. I take no pleasure in doing so. I am only making them public so people can better understand the background. I know how popular the programme is and I know that this decision will divide opinion. The main facts are not disputed by those involved.

I want to make three points.

First - The 91Èȱ¬ is a broad church. Our strength in many ways lies in that diversity. We need distinctive and different voices but they cannot come at any price. Common to all at the 91Èȱ¬ have to be standards of decency and respect. I cannot condone what has happened on this occasion. A member of staff - who is a completely innocent party - took himself to Accident and Emergency after a physical altercation accompanied by sustained and prolonged verbal abuse of an extreme nature. For me a line has been crossed. There cannot be one rule for one and one rule for another dictated by either rank, or public relations and commercial considerations.

Second - This has obviously been difficult for everyone involved but in particular for Oisin. I want to make clear that no blame attaches to him for this incident. He has behaved with huge integrity throughout. As a senior producer at the 91Èȱ¬ he will continue to have an important role within the organisation in the future.

Third - Obviously none of us wanted to find ourselves in this position. This decision should in no way detract from the extraordinary contribution that Jeremy Clarkson has made to the 91Èȱ¬. I have always personally been a great fan of his work and Top Gear. Jeremy is a huge talent. He may be leaving the 91Èȱ¬ but I am sure he will continue to entertain, challenge and amuse audiences for many years to come.

The 91Èȱ¬ must now look to renew Top Gear for 2016. This will be a big challenge and there is no point in pretending otherwise. I have asked Kim Shillinglaw [Controller of 91Èȱ¬ Two] to look at how best we might take this forward over the coming months. I have also asked her to look at how we put out the last programmes in the current series.