DAN WOOTTON: Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby have taken us for fools

It’s the verbal gymnastics we’ve come to expect from scandal-plagued politicians.

Like Matt Hancock who stated that he had not broken the draconian social distancing rules he imposed on all of us, despite kissing and groping a woman who was not his wife at his workplace while Covid restrictions remained in place.

Or Bill Clinton who insisted he had no “sexual relations” with “that woman” Monica Lewinsky – claiming that even though he had tried to smoke weed, he never inhaled.

Conspiracy Phillip Schofield and his hapless accomplice Holly Willoughby’s explanation of how skipping a line of tens of thousands of ordinary Britons waiting to pay their respects to the Queen lying in state wasn’t really a line will go down through the ages as one of the all-time major PR disasters.

Thanks to the livestream from Westminster Hall, we saw the This Morning presenters being escorted past the coffin, even though Holly was wearing a black mask, perhaps because she was ashamed of what they were doing.

And as a result of images on social media filmed by some of the honest people who lined up in the 13-hour winding line around the River Thames, we know they were led past the public to a special entrance.

This is the kind of VIP treatment Phillip and Holly are used to.

At ITV Daytime, where I worked for 10 years, they are untouchable; treated like the king and queen of broadcasting for whom every whim is catered for in Mariah Carey style by a huge team of ever willing followers.

Given the chance to view the Queen’s casket, it wouldn’t have crossed their minds that they would probably line up for the public, much like their colleague Susanna Reid or the much more famous David Beckham. decided to do.

In fact, they seemed to convince themselves that their coffin outing was some sort of selfless exercise performed on a Friday (their day off) so that they could be the eyes and ears of the British public.

On a damage control broadcast yesterday, Holly said in a voiceover dripping with false sincerity: ‘It was strictly intended to cover the event for millions of people in the UK who were unable to visit Westminster in person. The rules were that we would be quickly escorted around the edges to a platform at the back. In contrast, those who paid respect walked past a carpeted area next to the coffin and were given time to pause. None of the broadcasters and journalists there took anyone’s place in line and no one walked past the Queen. We have of course respected those rules. However, we realize it may have looked like something else and therefore fully understand the reaction. Please know that we would never queue.”

uh, what?

Holly, Phillip and This Morning are fooling us with that statement.

We KNOW they skipped the line. That’s beyond question – it’s a fact; the videos show it happening.

By treating This Morning’s viewers in such a ridiculous way, it’s no wonder Queuegate is tearing up Phillip and Holly’s remaining credibility.

The question is not whether the star hosts skipped the line, but whether that was acceptable as “journalists” covering the historic event.

Even if we are nice and accept that Phil and Holly are suddenly field reporters and This Morning is a news show, their explanations still don’t make much sense.

The most curious thing is the fact that they showed up at Westminster with no cameramen or technical crew. That’s unheard of for star hosts on a show like This Morning on an unlimited budget.

Obviously no equipment could be taken into Westminster Hall itself but if they were reporting on the event they would have had cameras filming them before entering and as soon as they left presumably interviewing members of the public about their experience inside.

But all that eventually aired was a very short clip that appeared to have been filmed on an iPhone, where Holly nods enthusiastically when Phillip announces, “That must probably be one of, if not the most profound moments of my life.”

Even more curious is the fact that they didn’t have a show to air on Saturday, Sunday or Monday, so they knew at the earliest they could talk about their experience at Westminster Hall on Tuesday, when the Queen was already buried.

I think this has become a scandal because of its transparency and reliability.

If Holly and Phil admitted that they skipped the line, taking advantage of their privilege as members of the media, as many other journalists and broadcasters have done, to talk about the experience of seeing the Queen’s coffin in their show, we would have at least respected their honesty and moved on.

But it’s the holier-than-thou response that suggests we’ve all completely missed the point that made things much worse.

To be honest, I feel like the Phillip and Holly cult is coming to an end.

In all honesty, she is a lovely woman who made the decision to be dragged down by her co-host in so many ways out of loyalty when she would be better off going her own way and focusing on her very successful primetime projects and lifestyle business ventures.

Viewers have seen Phillip through a string of scandals that seemed to shed light on his notoriously frosty relationships with fellow presenters.

They include the original Fern Britton, a good woman left bruised by her experiences, the exceptional Amanda Holden, whom he inexplicably refused to work with and she called him out, and my GB News colleague Eamonn Holmes, who helped announce Phillip’s choreographed TV doesn’t come out until months later.

This morning was working when we felt like we were watching two of our friends, with a family of regulars we could identify with.

Now we feel like we’re being talked into by two icy multi-millionaire A-list divas who don’t seem to be very nice to their peers or fellow presenters.

Unfortunately, Queuegate proved what we’ve long suspected: Phillip and Holly think they’re better than us.