Piers Morgan was in the news last week, as you must have seen.
I won't go into the reason he left or was sacked from Good Morning Britain because it’s been well publicised, but I just wanted to say this.
I've been on GMB several times when Piers has been presenting and I always found him fair and reasonable.
I do think he went a bit far at times – especially during Covid – but he’s entitled to his opinions and having encouraged a deliberately confrontational style of broadcasting, which I have experienced first hand, it’s a bit rich for his bosses to complain now.
Funnily enough, in the 2016 interview above – on smoking in movies – he was unusually quiet, leaving most of the questioning to his co-presenter Susanna Reid, which I took as a sign that he probably agreed with me.
There have been other interviews that suggest that, broadly speaking, Piers is pretty liberal on most lifestyle-related issues, including smoking.
Occasionally however he gets a bee in his bonnet about something, or perhaps he just recognises the chance to have a bit of fun at the expense of a guest.
One of the funniest examples was a 2017 interview with Tam Fry, spokesman for the National Obesity Forum, and the IEA’s Chris Snowdon.
I wrote about it here and watching it still makes me laugh. The funny bit starts four or five minutes in and is worth watching if only for Snowdon's reaction. Click here.
Anyway, a few years ago we launched the Voices of Freedom Awards. In our second year I took a punt and commissioned a 'Voices of Freedom' trophy with Piers' name on it.
Events intervened and we’re still waiting for an opportunity to present it to the (former) GMB presenter. I still have it though and here's the evidence.
