We DID stick up for Piers, says ITV chief

After being accused of giving in to Meghan’s complaint...

THE boss of ITV has claimed she ‘vigorously defended’ Piers Morgan in a watchdog probe into his on-air criticism of the Duchess of Sussex.

Dame Carolyn McCall said the broadcaster had upheld freedom of speech principles – despite claims Meghan approached her directly to complain and that Good Morning Britain host Morgan was allegedly given an ultimatum to apologise or leave the flagship show.

Morgan, pictured, left in March following an outburst in which he said didn’t believe claims the duchess had made during her interview with Oprah Winfrey, some of which were about her mental health.

It resulted in more than 50,000 complaints to Ofcom, the media watchdog. Morgan, 56, stormed out of the ITV studios following an on-air clash with a colleague who challenged him over his comments. He later quit after an alleged ultimatum from bosses.

An Ofcom probe last month found the broadcast did not break any rules – but Morgan was not offered his job back. He has since said that he will campaign for freedom of speech.

Yesterday, Dame Carolyn, ITV’s chief executive, told the Royal Television Society Cambridge Convention: ‘I will just say that we vigorously defended both the programme and Piers to Ofcom and the reason we didn’t get pulled up by them is because of the programme making.’ She added there is ‘no way we wouldn’t be absolutely not just endorsing but championing freedom of speech and freedom of expression’.

When asked whether there was a chance that Morgan could return to ITV, Dame Carolyn said he had resigned from his role. She said she expected to see Morgan, as well as Andrew Neil, who this week left his role as chairman of GB News, ‘working on some global platform any day soon’. Her comments came on the day Morgan won best news presenter at the Television and Radio Industries Club awards, beating his former cohost Susanna Reid, 50. Following the conclusion of the Ofcom probe this month, Morgan wrote in his MailOnline column: ‘I was reliably informed recently that Meghan Markle wrote directly to my ITV boss, Dame Carolyn McCall, the night before I was forced out, demanding my head on a plate.

‘Apparently, she stressed that she was writing to Dame Carolyn personally because they were both women and mothers, a nauseating playing of the gender and maternity card if ever there was one.

‘What has the world come to when a whiny, fork-tongued actress can dictate who presents a morning television news programme?’