CHIEF Minister Tony Brown has slammed as “insulting and unwarranted” the comments made by AA Gill in yesterday’s Sunday Times about the Isle of Man and its people. 

“Although AA Gill is not a news journalist but a satirical columnist meant to entertain through his outrageous comments, I, like all Manx residents, find his remarks to be misleading, unfounded and insulting to every man, woman and child on our Island,” said the Chief Minister.

Gill, 55, wrote in his column that its citizens fall into two types: “hopeless, inbred mouth-breathers known as Bennies” and “retired, small arms dealers and accountants who deal in rainforest futures”. 

His comments were made in the aftermath of Mick Jagger's suggestion that drugs should be legalised in the Isle of Man. Gill added that “If...they [sic] become a hopelessly addicted, criminal cesspit, who’d care? Indeed, who could tell the difference?”.

Tony Brown said, “Unfortunately, AA Gill has, for some reason, a personal dislike of the Island and its people, as is clear from his latest abusive comments. 

“The Isle of Man is not the country that he portrays.  We have a strong anti-drugs policy and a crime rate that is among the lowest anywhere in the British Isles.

“On the social policy front, the Island gave the vote to women decades before the United Kingdom and we have extended the right to vote to 16 and 17 year olds while many other nations are still considering it. 

“He may like to reflect on the privilege that he enjoys to express his views so freely in the media; it is a privilege that many Manx men and women sacrificed their lives for in considerable numbers, in two World Wars, and in fact continue to do so today by voluntarily serving in Her Majesty’s Forces in such places as Iraq and Afghanistan.”

It’s not the first time AA Gill has made critical comments about the Isle of Man - which has become something of a national pastime amongst London-based journalists. Gill wrote scathingly about Ciappelli’s when he visited the restaurant accompanied by Jeremy Clarkson in 2006.

This sparked off a minor diplomatic incident, the review being attacked in Tynwald with David Cannan MHK demanding an apology for this "unacceptable and scurrilous attack", whilst the then Tourism Minister David Cretney claimed at the time that Gill’s remarks would harm the Island's tourism.

Wikipedia describes Gill’s attacks on the Isle of Man as a “personal vendetta.”

Gill sparked further controversy by reporting in his Sunday Times column In October 2009 that he shot a baboon dead. His column averred that he knew "perfectly well there was absolutely no excuse for the shooting", and that he killed the animal in order to "get a sense of what it might be like to kill someone".

He went on to state, "They die hard, baboons, but not this one. A soft-nosed .357 blew his lungs out." The action prompted outrage from animal rights groups.

Gill has acquired a reputation for his highly sarcastic style of restaurant reviews, and along the way encountered and made numerous enemies in the restaurant world, including Marco Pierre White and Gordon Ramsay who famously once threw him out of one of his restaurants. Amongst other nationalities he has insulted are the Welsh, the Albanians and the Germans.

He has many other enemies. One website describes him as a "sneering snob". There are many other scathing descriptions of him on the internet; unfortunately, most are unprintable.