MOTORMOUTH car lover Jeremy Clarkson and environmentalist Sir Jonathon Porritt are embroiled in a bitter war of words over the future of the planet.

In a scathing attack Sir Jonathon has labelled the Top Gear presenter, who lives in Chipping Norton, an "outstandingly bigoted petrolhead" the latest in a long line of attacks on Mr Clarkson's anti-environmental remarks.

The comment, made during a speech in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, is the latest blow in a long-running battle between the bike-loving environmentalist and the car-mad presenter.

Mr Clarkson, who last year was splattered with a custard pie by a Green campaigner after receiving an honoury degree at Oxford Brookes University, is a hate figure among environmentalists for his dismissive attitude towards global warming.

He said climate change isn't even "worth a shrug" and once threatened to leave his patio heater on 24 hours a day to "annoy Greenpeace".

And he has attacked Sir Jonathon, who heads the Government's Sustainable Development Commission and lives in Cheltenham, on several occasions in his newspaper columns.

In return, Sir Jonathon, former director of Friends of the Earth, said: "In my mind this outstandingly bigoted petrolhead is partly responsible for why so many people today still somehow think the world is going to be drawn in the image of Jeremy Clarkson rather than the image of David Attenborough and others.

"When people like David Attenborough think carefully about the evidence, eventually there's little room for people playing the scientific uncertainty argument about climate change. Maybe he will even shut up Mr Clarkson.

"Anyone who can shut up Jeremy Clarkson deserves more honours than have already been heaped on David Attenborough."

Mr Clarkson has angered environmentalists with a series of stunts on BBC2's Top Gear including driving a pick-up truck into a 30-year-old horse chestnut tree.