A Kent MP has signed a letter calling for action to be taken against Jeremy Clarkson after his "horrifying" Meghan Markle column received more than 20,000 complaints.

Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield signed the open letter addressed to the editor of The Sun which linked Mr Clarkson’s comments to a “climate of hatred and violence” against women.

In the opinion piece, which was published last Friday and retracted on Monday, Clarkson said he hated the Duchess of Sussex “on a cellular level”.

He went on to write that he was “dreaming of the day when she is made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant 'Shame!' and throw lumps of excrement at her.”

The open letter was sent yesterday by Conservative Caroline Nokes and has been signed by more than 60 cross-party MPs.

In the letter, Ms Nokes writes: “We are horrified at the recent article by Jeremy Clarkson in your publication. As Parliamentarians of every persuasion, we condemn in the strongest terms the violent misogynistic language against The Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle.

“This sort of language has no place in our country, and it is unacceptable that it was allowed to be published in a mainstream newspaper.

“Ms Markle has faced multiple credible threats to her life, requiring the intervention of The Metropolitan Police. Hateful articles like the one written by Mr Clarkson do not exist in a vacuum, and directly contribute to this unacceptable climate of hatred and violence.”

The letter, which was signed by 52 female and 11 male MPs, goes on to link the language used in the column to wider issues of misogyny in society.

The chair of the Women and Equalities Select Committee continued: “We are deeply concerned about the role modelling being promoted to young men and boys, that they can verbally attack women without a consequence or that it is okay to use violent language to address a woman that you might disagree with.

“You will no doubt know how violence against women and girls has surged across Britain in recent years. We must do better.”

She concluded her communication with specific demands to take action against Mr Clarkson.

She wrote: “Enough is enough. We cannot allow this type of behaviour to go unchecked any longer. We welcome The Sun's retraction of the article, we now demand action is taken against Mr Clarkson and an unreserved apology is issued to Ms Markle immediately.

“We further demand definitive action is taken to ensure no article like this is ever published again.”

Clarkson has since apologised, writing on Twitter: “Oh dear. I’ve rather put my foot in it. In a column I wrote about Meghan, I made a clumsy reference to a scene in Game of Thrones and this has gone down badly with a great many people. I’m horrified to have caused so much hurt and I shall be more careful in future.”

Rosie Duffield, one of 31 Labour MPs to support the letter compared to five Conservatives, is the only Kent MP to have signed the letter.