Equality chief dismisses slur

BRITAIN’S equality chief Trevor Phillips has dismissed the Top Gear slur on Mexico as a “bit of schoolboy provocation”.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission head said Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond were “brilliant talents” as he reacted to anger over their comments about Mexicans.

Phillips said the commission did not need to take action.

“They have created a set of on-screen cartoon characters… But they do the job they’re supposed to do — get millions of people to watch a bunch of middle-aged blokes mucking about with cars.”

Mexico’s ambassador complained to the BBC about “outrageous, vulgar and inexcusable insults” made on the show after Hammond joked that Mexican cars reflected national characteristics, saying they were “just going to be lazy, feckless, flatulent”.