The Daily Telegraph

Piers Morgan has quit – shall we party, quipped minister

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HELEN WHATELY joked about celebratin­g Piers Morgan’s departure from Good Morning Britain – on a day when parties were illegal.

The social care minister – who had already had a notorious run-in with the presenter – sent a message to Matt Hancock on March 9, 2021.

The news had broken that Mr Morgan was leaving the ITV show after his comments about the Duchess of Sussex.

“How about we celebrate the departure of Piers at/after our team meeting tmr pm?” she told the then health secretary. Mr Hancock replied: “Perfect.”

Britain was still in lockdown and social gatherings were limited to two people outside in public places. It was illegal for gatherings to take place indoors.

The messages do not indicate if they made any plans after that, but the Government said yesterday there was “no celebratio­n” and that Mrs Whately’s comment was intended as “a joke”.

Mr Morgan had had a heated exchange with Mrs Whately in the early days of the pandemic, when he accused her of laughing during an interview about the crisis in care homes.

On Apr 15, 2020, Mr Morgan highlighte­d a press report claiming that the number of deaths in care homes could have already numbered 4,000.

When a photo of the report appeared on the screen for viewers to see, he asked her: “Why are you laughing? What do you find funny about this?”

Mrs Whately, who appeared exasperate­d, denied laughing. “I’m trying to answer your questions. I don’t think it’s funny in the slightest,” she said.

A video of the exchange went viral, and sparked fierce criticism of Mrs Whately personally.

Mr Morgan remained a combatant critic of the Government’s handling of the pandemic. He left the ITV show after he said on air that he “didn’t believe a word” that the Duchess of Sussex had told Oprah Winfrey – sparking 41,000 complaints to the television regulator.

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