Piers Morgan - Another Own Goal

It has not been a good couple of weeks for former Screws and Daily Mirror editor and former CNN host Piers Morgan, now scribbling furiously in defence of his idol, Combover Crybaby Donald Trump, at Mail Online, and co-hosting ITV’s breakfast offering Good Morning Britain three days a week, if only to garner the channel better ratings. And this morning Morgan’s defence of The Donald took another knock.

Piers Morgan at Leveson - another unconvincing performance

We knew just how miffed Morgan was over all the stick his pal in the White House has been getting from a mardy strop he threw on Twitter yesterday evening, bleating “BREAKING: President Donald Trump just announced a cure for all known diseases. The global protest march against this outrage is at 8pm”. But Trump couldn’t cure a hunger craving in a curry house, and the GMB co-host was protesting rather too much.

Someone's a little bit sore about something

Then this morning, joining him and unfeasibly patient co-host Susanna Reid on the Official ITV Breakfast Sofa (tm) were appallingly intolerant Tory MP Philip Davies - who, to the great relief of many viewers, was reduced to a bit part in the unfolding drama - and campaigning journalist Owen Jones. Morgan’s intention, as so often, was to make the whole exercise about the promotion of Himself Personally Now.

But the best-laid plans, and all that: The Great Man combined a basic research fail with his propensity to shoot from the hip, with the result that he ended up covered in rather more than confusion. Jones, he asserted, was a leading gay journalist (intercoursing subtle, our Piers), and so should have been protesting at the state visit not of his pal Trump, but the likes of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. the late ruler of Saudi Arabia.

Owen Jones - sound bloke

The mildly inconvenient problem here was that Jones had led protests against the state visit of the then Saudi ruler. He pointed out that Morgan could have easily Googled the answer, noting that he hadn’t seen Morgan at those protests. Morgan changed tack and passed adverse comment on those coming together to protest. Jones had to remind The Great Man that he’d just asked where the protests were, and now, having been told that there were protests, had changed his mind and wasn’t bothered about them.

There was only one thing for Morgan to do - engage rant autopilot and turn the whole shebang into a monologue. This, too, was less than totally successful, as Jones then called him out for it. Morgan kept droning on, not letting anyone get a word in edgeways. The studio team began to laugh at him; Jones pointed this out, too. Ms Reid also began laughing. Morgan was looking silly (yes, I know, no change there).

OH DEAR

And, as with the equally embarrassing occasion when The Great Man got well and truly Pwned by Evan Harris of campaigning group Hacked Off, Ms Reid had to intervene to spare his blushes and bring the alleged interview to a close. It was another less than stellar advert for free speech, to see someone who likes to bang on about it trying his damnedest to prevent its exercise by those of opposing view.

How many more celebrity guests and their agents will see that and slip the word to GMB’s bookers that it’s Ben Shephard or no show? How much longer before someone at ITV takes Morgan aside and tells him to stop making a complete Tango Whisky Alpha Tango of himself? But top marks to Owen Jones for sticking to his task. Someone has to.