Nadine Dorries MP has claimed that she saw Phillip Schofield “bully” a stand-in presenter on This Morning.
Speaking on BBC programme Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, the former secretary for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport spoke about previously being interviewed by Phillip – who recently departed the ITV daytime talk show after hosting for more than 21 years.
She claimed that Phillip was “quite bullying in his attitude” towards his co-host, who was standing in for Holly Willoughby at the time and claimed that the co-presenter looked “terrified.”
READ MORE: Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary ‘furious’ about being made to do Schofield tribute
Nadine could be heard telling Laura: “I just found him to be quite bullying in his attitude towards the co-host who was standing in for Holly Willoughby.
(Image: ITV)
“And that made me feel more uncomfortable than answering the questions.”
She continued: “When the camera was on me and I was talking, he started aggressively jabbing at the script with his hands so the pages were rattling and the co-presenter looked terrified.”
The MP also addressed Philip Schofield’s statement to The Daily Mail on Friday (May 28, 2023), in which he admitted to having an affair with a younger male colleague while still married to his wife.
(Image: ITV)
After stepping down from his role on This Morning, the former presenter issued a public apology regarding their relationship and said he had “not been truthful” about it in the past because he wanted to “protect” his ex-colleague.
He said: “The first thing I want to say is: I am deeply sorry for having lied to them, and to many others about a relationship that I had with someone working on This Morning. I did have a consensual on-off relationship with a younger male colleague at This Morning.
“Contrary to speculation, whilst I met the man when he was a teenager and was asked to help him to get into television, it was only after he started to work on the show that it became more than just a friendship. That relationship was unwise, but not illegal. It is now over.”
(Image: BBC)
The statement continued to say: “I am painfully conscious that I have lied to my employers at ITV, to my colleagues and friends, to my agents, to the media and therefore the public and most importantly of all to my family. I am so very, very sorry, as I am for having been unfaithful to my wife.
“I have therefore decided to step down from the British Soap Awards, my last public commitment, and am resigning from ITV with immediate effect expressing my immense gratitude to them for all the amazing opportunities that they have given me. I will reflect on my very bad judgement in both participating in the relationship and then lying about it.”
Speaking about the statement, Nadine said: “The fact that Phillip Schofield has made a rather grovelling apology to the Daily Mail, there seems to be this understanding that ‘that’s it, it will move on, but it’s not the case.”
(Image: ITV)
She asked: “We know that there were complaints lodged with ITV over a long period of time. What happened to those complaints?”
ITV have released a statement saying that they investigated rumours of an affair between Phillip and a young male co-worker three years ago.
A spokesperson for the broadcaster said: “Further to our statement last night, ITV can confirm that when rumours of a relationship between Phillip Schofield and an employee of ITV first began to circulate in early 2020 ITV investigated.
“Both parties were questioned and both categorically and repeatedly denied the rumours as did Phillip’s then agency YMU.
“In addition, ITV spoke to a number of people who worked on This Morning and were not provided with and did not find, any evidence of a relationship beyond hearsay and rumour.
“Phillip’s statement yesterday reveals that he lied to people at ITV, from senior management to fellow presenters, to YMU, to the media and to others over this relationship.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
