Phillip Schofield is accused of abusing ‘authority, power and trust’ by Nadine Dorries
Nadine Dorries has accused Phillip Schofield of abusing ‘authority, power and trust’ after the veteran broadcaster confessed to having an affair with a young colleague and covered it up with lies.
The 61-year-old presenter quit ITV on Friday after admitting to the Daily Mail that he had lied about an “unwise but not illegal” affair with a much younger man. It has since been revealed that Schofield’s lover was only fifteen when they first met.
ITV confirmed they had investigated rumors about the relationship, which first started circulating in 2020, but that Schofield and the young man had “repeatedly denied” the affair.
With Schofield’s 38-year career in shambles, former culture minister Ms Dorries is the latest to speak out against the TV presenter.
Speaking of Schofield on Laura Kuenssberg’s Sunday show, she said: “There are men, men in particular, who hold positions of authority or trust and power, who think they are above the law and above the standards by which the rest hold of us. and adhered to.
Nadine Dorries has today accused Phillip Schofield of abuse of ‘authority, power and trust’ after the veteran broadcaster confessed to having an affair with a young colleague and covered it up with lies
Phillip Schofield with a younger colleague who became his lover and left The Ivy Club, London
The 61-year-old presenter quit ITV on Friday after admitting to the Daily Mail that he had lied about an “unwise but not illegal” affair with a much younger man.
“I think there’s definitely an element of what’s taking place.”
When asked if This Morning should be scrapped, she said: ‘The fact that Phillip Schofield has made a rather fawning apology to the Daily Mail…there seems to be a realization that that’s it now. That’s not the case, I’m afraid.’
Ms Dorries also said there are questions for Schofield’s co-host of nearly 14 years Holly Willoughby to answer.
Her hard-hitting comments come as questions continue to grow about the future of ITV bosses, including CEO Carolyn McCall, and the hit daytime TV show, leading the network today to insist that This Morning will not be axed.
Squashing speculation with a direct 30-word statement, an ITV spokesperson said today: ‘As we officially said yesterday, This Morning is not being rated and there are no plans to stop the show.
“This Morning will be back to normal tomorrow.”
It comes after Holly opened up about her devastation when she found out he lied to her about the relationship.
She revealed: “When reports of this relationship first surfaced I asked Phil directly if this was true and was told it wasn’t. It has been very painful to find out now that this was a lie.’
ITV bosses including CEO Carolyn McCall (pictured) face questions over the affair the network has been investigating in 2020
ITV has rushed to put out rumors circulating about the future of This Morning
ITV confirmed they had investigated rumors about the relationship, which first started circulating in 2020, but that Schofield and the young man had “repeatedly denied” the affair.
Although ITV investigated Schofield’s affair in 2020, a senior lawyer has said there should be an ‘inquiry’ into the affair due to possible ‘abuse of power’.
Richard Scorer, of Slater and Gordon, said that while full details of the relationship were not yet known, “any situation where a young person may have been exposed to a potential imbalance of power abuse should be fully and independently investigated.”
The abuse specialist added that the long-standing rumors about the affair – and the allegations that others at ITV knew about the relationship – meant it was ‘absolutely necessary that there be a full and transparent investigation’.
The calls for an inquiry come as the ITV chief believes This Morning’s reputation has been ‘irreparably tarnished’, forcing presenters and crew to search for their jobs.
PR expert Mark Borkowski told MailOnline that the future of ITV bosses, including McCall, is likely to be secure as Schofield admitted to cheating everyone.
Regarding Schofield’s future on TV, he said “Phillip Scofield has no future, it’s over for him for the level he’s lied to everyone and he’s admitted it.”
He added that ITV now needs to move on and focus on the programme. “Holly Willoughby and all of her consultants and publicists are going to have to work extremely hard and work on great television to bring that back,” he said.
“ITV and all these people need to get their PR right. It’s been DIY PR. In PR terms, it’s been the equivalent of looking for a gas leak with a match.”