Defiant Piers Morgan warns PM he’ll replay & attack ministers’ interviews with other programmes until GMB ‘boycott’ ends
PIERS Morgan has warned he will replay and attack ministers’ interviews with other breakfast programmes while the government boycotts Good Morning Britain. The defiant host said that GMB will be “sub-interviewing” ministers because the government is refusing to let them appear on the show. The government stopped giving GMB interviews with ministers after a string […]
PIERS Morgan has warned he will replay and attack ministers’ interviews with other breakfast programmes while the government boycotts Good Morning Britain.
The defiant host said that GMB will be “sub-interviewing” ministers because the government is refusing to let them appear on the show.
The government stopped giving GMB interviews with ministers after a string of combative interviews with Piers.
Ministers have not appeared on the morning show for over 20 days, despite giving interviews to rivals BBC Breakfast.
This afternoon, Piers warned Boris Johnson that he would replay and attack ministers’ interviews with other programmes while the boycott continues.
He wrote on Twitter: “Hi @BorisJohnson @10Downing Street – given your outrageous ongoing boycott of @GMB, we will now be sub-interviewing all cabinet minister appearances on other breakfast shows & holding them/you to account that way.”
On today’s show, Piers played out an interview that pensions secretary Therese Coffey gave to the BBC about Covid-19 testing.
Holding his phone to a microphone on his suit, viewers heard the Cabinet minister say: “I recognise that there have only been a handful of days where more than 100,000 people have gone for that test.”
Flanked by Susanna Reid, a seething Piers responded: “Therese Coffey, if you were on our programme, if you had the guts to come on, I would have said to you there have been no dates – zero, nada, nil.
“What you just said was a lie.”
He added: “You just told BBC viewers that there had been a handful of days when over 100,000 have been tested.
“No, there have been a handful of days when you have apparently conducted over 100,000 tests.”
Earlier in the show, Piers interrupted Dr Hilary Jones to blast the Pensions Secretary after he read her comments to the BBC on his tablet.
He said: “She’s just said we can look back on our testing, how we increased capacity, with pride. With pride.
The agitated host continued: “It’s a matter of pride for the government that our testing was such a spectacular failure.”
In April, Piers was hit with 1,910 Ofcom complaints after an explosive interview with care minister Helen Whately.
Some viewers accused the 55-year-old of bullying the Conservative MP, who he accused of talking “utter nonsense”, while he insisted that he was holding the minister “to account”.
Ms Whately appeared on the show again a week later for another morning showdown.
After the Care Minister told a furious Piers that she did not have accurate figures for the number of people who have died in care homes, he said: “You are the care minister, how many more have died than the Government figures?”
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He continued: “I don’t want to wait a week, we had this conversation last week and you didn’t know then either.”
Ofcom has since said it will not investigate the complaints.
In a statement, the watchdog said: “It is clearly in the public interest that broadcasters are able to hold those making political decisions to account, particularly during a major national crisis, such as the coronavirus pandemic.”
