‘I underestimated the scale of public support’: Piers Morgan ‘apologises’ to Ofcom after his fans bombard the TV watchdog to support his grilling of care minister Helen Whately
- Piers Morgan has apologised to Ofcom after his fans bombarded the regulator
- The Good Morning Britain presenter ‘grilled’ Care Minister Helen Whately twice
- Ofcom wrote to Mr Morgan saying it had been inundated with messages
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
Piers Morgan has apologised to Ofcom after asking his fans to bombard the TV watchdog to support his ‘grilling’ of Care Minister Helen Whately.
The 55-year-old Good Morning Britain (GMB) presenter came under fire after his incendiary row with care minister Ms Whatley on the ITV show last week.
Ms Whately had been hammered by Mr Morgan, who accused her of not knowing how many health and care staff have died from the coronavirus.
She endured two interviews in less than two weeks, with her first appearance seeing her criticised for laughing after Mr Morgan confronted her over the number of people dying in care homes during the pandemic crisis.
Piers Morgan has apologised to Ofcom after asking his fans to bombard the TV watchdog to support his ‘grilling’ of MP Helen Whately on Good Morning Britain last week
But some viewers complained that the GMB presenter was ‘bullying’ her, while others insisted that Mr Morgan was doing his job holding Ms Whately ‘to account’.
‘Apparently nearly 2,000 people have now complained to Ofcom about me grilling Care minister Helen Whately too ‘unfairly’ when she couldn’t answer even basic questions,’ Mr Morgan tweeted. ‘If you think I should continue grilling ministers in the way I’ve been doing, please tell Ofcom. Thanks.’
But the TV regulator issued a rare public plea to Mr Morgan to ‘go easy on the mentions’ after the watchdog became inundated.
Ofcom wrote: ‘Dear Piers, we’re usually happy with you keeping us busy. But right now we’re struggling to keep up after you asked your followers to contact us.
‘This means we may fail to help the people that need us most – such as the vulnerable or elderly. So could you please help us out and go easy on the mentions?’
Mr Morgan replied: ‘My apologies… I underestimated the scale of public support.’
Ms Whately (right) had been hammered by Mr Morgan (left), who accused her of not knowing how many health and care staff have died from the coronavirus, on the show
Ms Whately also faced a tough time today during separate interviews with BBC Breakfast, BBC Radio 4’s Today programme and Sky News.
She was forced to defend the government’s record on the supply of vital PPE for the NHS amid fears shortages are putting the lives of frontline workers at risk.
She insisted ministers are moving as quickly as possible to boost supply as she spelled out the challenge of finding the ‘billions’ of items needed.
The Tory frontbencher was unable to explain why current coronavirus testing numbers are so far below the available capacity.
She clashed with Mr Morgan over the Government’s coronavirus testing operation amid questions over why the number of checks does not match capacity.
Mr Morgan said the testing regime was a ‘spectacular failure’ and that ministers were not going to get ‘anywhere near’ to hitting the six figure target next week.
Ms Whately appeared on Good Morning Britain, speaking from her home in Kent last week
Every time Mr Morgan asked Ms Whately about why daily testing was so low, she began by referring to the growing testing capacity.
Mr Morgan repeatedly said he was asking about how the Government will actually carry out 100,000 daily tests rather than whether they could be done in theory.
Ms Whately said: ‘We know that testing is really important and so we have been working hard to ramp up the testing capacity in the country.’
Mr Morgan interrupted and said test numbers had actually fallen in recent days, adding: ‘I don’t want to hear about your ramping up. Care Minister, with respect, you are not ramping it up… you are going backwards. Do you see?’
Ms Whately then said the UK had ‘trebled’ the number of tests which can be done, prompting Mr Morgan to exclaim: ‘You are not doing them! You are doing 18,000 a day which is less than you were doing 12 days ago.’