This Morning will undergo an external review after Phillip Schofield sensationally confessed to having an affair with a younger male colleague.
ITV has instructed a barrister to carry out an external review of the facts following Phillip Schofield’s statement and departure from This Morning. PA News agency obtained a letter which allegedly showed ITV chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall calling for the review.
The letter was sent to culture secretary Lucy Frazer, DCMS Committee chair Dame Caroline Dinenage and Ofcom’s chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes, in the wake the disgraced presenter's sudden exit from ITV.
Following his affair admission, Phillip, 61, has since resigned from ITV as a whole, been dropped by his agency, and on Tuesday was dropped as an ambassador for youth charity The Prince’s Trust.
The letter in question reportedly mentions the "significant media coverage concerning Phillip Schofield" and adds that: "As you would expect we take the matter extremely seriously and have reviewed our own records over the weekend."
The letter mentions that ITV records show "when rumours of a relationship between Phillip Schofield and an employee of ITV first began to circulate in late 2019/early 2020 ITV investigated".
It reads: "Both parties were questioned then and both categorically and repeatedly denied the rumours, as did Phillip’s then agency YMU. In addition, ITV spoke to a number of people who worked on the This Morning and wider Daytime team and were not provided with, and did not find any evidence of a relationship beyond hearsay and rumour.
"Given the ongoing rumours, we continued to ask questions of both parties, who both continued to deny the rumours, including as recently as this month."
In the letter, Dame Carolyn says there has been "a lot of inaccuracy" in reporting and she added that the former employee Schofield admitted to an affair with has been offered support throughout.
It said: "The ITV employee was aged 19 when he first did work experience at This Morning in 2015 and 20 years old when he applied and succeeded in securing a job as a runner on the show.
"He subsequently applied for and was successful in securing a promotion to Loose Women in 2019. He left ITV in 2021. As you would imagine given the social media scrutiny of him, we have offered him our support throughout this period and indeed are still doing so.
"The employee has made it clear that he does not wish to be named or identified in connection with this matter. We would be grateful if you would be mindful of this."
The letter also states that ITV has instructed Jane Mulcahy KC, of Blackstone Chambers, to "carry out an external review to establish the facts".
"She will review our records and talk to people involved. This work will also consider our relevant processes and policies and whether we need to change or strengthen any," the letter said.
This comes after Phillip quit This Morning after two decades following rumours that he had 'fallen out' with his former co-host Holly Willoughby.
Phillip later admitted to having an affair with a younger employee on This Morning and cut ties with the broadcaster entirely and was dropped by his talent agency YMU for lying about the affair.
Days later, Phillip admitted he had an affair with a younger ITV employee in an explosive statement and resigned
His statement read: "I did have a consensual on-off relationship with a younger male colleague at This Morning. Contrary to speculation, whilst I met the man when he was a teenager and was asked to help him to get into television, it was only after he started to work on the show that it became more than just a friendship. That relationship was unwise, but not illegal. It is now over."
He later added: "In an effort to protect my ex-colleague I haven't been truthful about the relationship. But my recent, unrelated, departure from This Morning fuelled speculation and raised questions which have been impacting him, so for his sake it is important for me to be honest now.
"I am painfully conscious that I have lied to my employers at ITV, to my colleagues and friends, to my agents, to the media and therefore the public and most importantly of all to my family. I am so very, very sorry, as I am for having been unfaithful to my wife."
Following on from his bombshell statement, a spokesperson for ITV said on Friday the broadcaster was "deeply disappointed" by the "admissions of deceit".
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