ITV bosses face questioning over Phillip Schofield’s departure

ITV bosses have been faced with questioning over Phillip Schofield's departure.

The This Morning presenter announced he would be leaving the show with immediate effect last month following reports of a "feud" between himself and Holly Willoughby. It then emerged that he had been having an affair with a younger runner who worked on the show, which Phillip later admitted as being true. ITV denied claims that they knew about the affair, issuing a statement to say they had investigated the incident when rumours initially began in 2020. In a letter seen by PA news agency, Dame Carolyn McCall allegedly instructed a barrister to carry out an external review of the handling of the affair. [caption id="attachment_582358" align="alignnone" width="615"] Credit: ITV[/caption] The letter was sent to Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer, Culture, Media and Sport Committee chair Dame Caroline Dinenage and Ofcom chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes. On Wednesday, ITV bosses were faced with questioning in the House of Commons regarding the affair between Phillip and the runner. Dame Caroline Dineage first questioned Dame Carolyn McCall about the claims that multiple people knew of it, including Piers Morgan and Eamonn Holmes' comments regarding the issue. Dame Carolyn said that the people who claimed that "everyone knew" about the affairs had only heard the rumours. She went on to say that if any evidence had been provided, a formal investigation would have been launched due to the imbalance of power making "it deeply inappropriate”. ITV’s general counsel Kyla Mullins said the young runner had been questioned about the affair 12 times, but denied it repeatedly. Nobody then came forward with evidence and the conversation surrounding it went on until Phillip left the show. Dame Carolyn said: “There was a lot of very very horrible stuff out there.” She added that ITV needed to figure out if it was a rumour or if "we had to worry about”.

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