The 26-year-old let rip at the luxury car marque in his new book, writing: “If you see someone driving a pickup, you can trust them. You know that if you follow them you’re going to end up at a good pub. But if you follow someone driving a Range Rover, you’ll probably end up down a back alley having your wheels stolen.”

The young farming contractor was brought in to assist Clarkson, 64, in running 1,000-acre Diddly Squat Farm in Oxfordshire – using his own expertise to try and teach the petrol-head-turned-wannabe-farmer the basics of the job. Now it appears he is following his boss – famed for his hilariously biting put-downs of cars during his time on Top Gear and The Grand Tour – into the realms of controversy.

Writing about the best farm vehicles in his second book, It’s A Farming Thing, published today [24/10] and described as a “hilarious peek behind the scenes of life on a farm”, the Chipping

Norton-born TV star admits: “A lot of farmers rave about the old Land Rover Defender… but have you ever sat in one? It’s awful, like climbing inside a tank on wheels, which it basically is.” Instead, he recommends a pickup truck with a comfy double cab as the ideal utility vehicle for farm work, adding: “You don’t want to put a dead sheep in the boot of something like a Range Rover, do you? I know they brought in the Range Rover to be a kind of luxury version of the Land Rover, but then what happened? Drug dealers bought them.”

A previous memoir, The World According to Kaleb Cooper, was published two years ago and became a bestseller despite its author claiming he’d only read one book himself.

“I’m not a big reader – the only book I’ve ever actually read is Diddly Squat by Jeremy Clarkson – so I’ve decided to do the next best thing and write my own book!” he said.

The genial bickering and mickey-taking between Cooper and Clarkson has made their double-act a major part of the success of the hit Amazon Prime series, which has run to 24 episodes over three seasons.

“The chemistry between us is obviously good,” Kaleb has admitted. “As soon as we're put in the same room, it just clicks. It’s just great fun when we’re together.”

Clarkson bought 1,000-acre Diddly Squat Farm near Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, in 2008, but only took over the running of in 2019 and has latterly turned his endeavours into three hit seasons of the Amazon Prime show.

TV bosses revealed in August that Clarkson’s Farm had been renewed for a fourth series, with filming due to start early next year. The series has been praised by critics for raising awareness of British farming and the challenges of modern agriculture.

But earlier this week, it’s 64-year-old star revealed he had needed a life-saving operation to clear blocked arteries after falling ill on a recent holiday.

Clarkson joked that he had been “banned” from emptying the dishwasher after the surgery.

“I was at the breakfast table and when I stood up to leave, I had to take a moment to make sure my limbs were working properly,” he wrote. One day Clarkson, who opened a refurbished pub — The Farmer’s Dog — near Burford, Oxon, this year, felt “clammy and there was a tightness in my chest”.

A doctor was called when he noticed “pins and needles” in his left arm and he was taken by ambulance to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. Having been diagnosed with a blocked artery, a stent was inserted to keep it open and restore blood flow to his heart. He should make a full recovery.