‘I don’t set out to be outrageous.’ says Sun columnist Jon Gaunt

In reality though, Jon Gaunt, 47, comes across as a pleasant, approachable chap who would not deliberately set out to hurt anybody’s feelings.

“Gaunty” is currently on a nationwide tour to promote his latest book Gaunty’s Best of British – It’s Called Great Britain not Rubbish Britain.

The entertaining book aims to trumpet everything that is great about our sceptred isle and reclaim the Union Jack from racists, he says.

Explaining his decision to write the book, father-of-two Jon says: “Because someone rang in to my radio show and said, ‘I’m fed up of people slagging off Britain. This is Great Britain, not rubbish Britain.’ Some people criticise Britain too much.”

Several themes crop up throughout the book – immigration, Muslim issues and attitudes, women, dole cheats, the NHS and motorists – all subjects that Jon feels strongly about.

He says: “It’s things that wind me up – uncontrolled immigration and how great our Armed Forces are and Baby P.”

Gaunty himself spent time in foster care and feels passionately that smokers should not be barred from fostering.

It led to him branding Redbridge Council’s Cllr Michael Stark “a Nazi” and “an ignorant pig” live on talkSPORT.

He later apologised and said he had meant to call Cllr Stark a “health and safety Nazi” but was still sacked from the station.

He says: “My mum died when I was 11 and I was looked after by my aunty – a matron in a hospital and she was also a smoker. She put me on the straight and narrow.

“Everybody now knows smoking is bad – foster parents and real parents smoke. We should give them every assistance to give up – not have a blanket ban.

“The most important thing is to get kids out of residential care,” adds Gaunty, who is not a smoker.

Talking of his recent sacking from talkSPORT he says: “It’s an infringement of free speech and expression, which is why I’m taking legal action against them and which is why people as diverse as the Guardian and the Independent and Shami Chakrabarti from Liberty are backing me.

“I shouldn’t have used those words but I don’t regret the passion,” he adds. “I think it was because of Ross and Brand that they just overreacted.

“They won’t tell us how many complaints there were but I do know that over 30,000 people have written demanding my reinstatement.”

Civil liberties are something that Gaunty says he feels strongly about.

He adds: “I’m against speed cameras and all these little Hitlers in councils telling us how much rubbish to put in our bins. I’m sick of them not concentrating on things that the British people want sorting out.”

Jon was also shocked by the recent arrest of the Tory MP Damian Green.

“I think it’s a disgrace. Here you have a situation where the very idea of Parliamentary democracy could be usurped. New Labour are very controlling.”

Will he write another book of issues that concern him? He jokes: “There’s plenty more material.”

Why is he so outspoken when others are reluctant to voice their opinions?

He says: “I don’t set out to be outrageous. I say what I think. If other people disagree, that’s great. I don’t think there are enough people in this country who stand up and say what they think.”

Gaunty is in favour of coming down tougher on criminals.

In his book, he quotes the example of Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, who created the famous tent city jail, making prison inmates wear pink boxer shorts and even charging them for their food – but he says he would not be quite so tough.

“I wouldn’t go down that route,” says Gaunty.

“What I do think is that we should have democratically elected police chiefs in this country and then they would have to respond to the wishes of the local community.

“We need commonsense leadership.”

He says he would never become an MP, however, but thinks that those in power do take on board the views cited in opinion columns like his own in the Sun.

“The danger is you become one of them. I prefer to be the boy on the outside shouting to the emperor he has got no clothes on,” he jokes.