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Good Morning Britain receives over 500 Ofcom complaints in single week due to Piers Morgan’s Tory MP rants

Number of complaints dropped on day Morgan wasn't hosting ITV show

Jacob Stolworthy
Thursday 21 May 2020 10:08 BST
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Good Morning Britain has received more than 500 Ofcom complaints in a single week due to Piers Morgan’s political rants.

The host has refused to hold back when disagreeing with opinions held by guests appearing on the breakfast show, which has seen a spike in angry viewers.

It’s been reported that on Tuesday (12 May), the media regulator was contacted 174 times by disgruntled members of the public, with 98 complaints being registered the following day.

A further 76 complaints were made on Thursday (14 May), with the number dropping to just 10 on the Friday – Morgan's day off.

When Morgan returned alongside co-host Susanna Reid on Monday (18 May), Ofcom received another 51 messages from viewers who were left infuriated by the presenter’s criticism of the UK government.

The figures come weeks after Ofcom said it would not investigate Morgan after receiving 4,000 complaints over his interviews with Conservative politicians.

Two interviews he conducted with care minister Helen Whateley earlier this month led to more than 3,200 complaints, while 600 related to a segment with health secretary Matt Hancock.

In one of his interviews with Whateley, Morgan repeatedly corrected her on the number of NHS staff who have died from the coronavirus, calling the figures she gave “nonsense”. Many complained to say the politician was treated “unfairly”.

At the time, Whateley accused him of “shouting at me and not giving me a chance to answer your questions”.

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Ofcom dismissed the complaints, saying: “Viewers would expect him to challenge senior politicians and hold them to account.”

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