Trump praise, royal row & phone hacking: Piers Morgan headlines Biz Week finale
HEADLINER: Gyles Brandreth speaking to Piers Morgan. Pictures courtesy of The Business Day.
By Rick Lyon, Co-Editor
His friendship with Donald Trump, feud with Megan Markle and the phone hacking scandal were all hot topics of discussion when controversial journalist and broadcaster Piers Morgan took to the stage at the finale of Humber Business Week.
More than 700 delegates filled the theatre at Bridlington Spa on The Business Day to listen to keynote speaker Morgan discuss his life, career and views.
Host Gyles Brandreth questioned Morgan about his upbringing, family and the many world-famous celebrities he has interviewed over the years.
Discussing the US President, Morgan said: “He’s a complete force of nature. He has unbelievable self-confidence – just incredible self-confidence to back himself, the like of which I’ve never seen before.
“Cristiano Ronaldo has it in football, a few people have it in other walks of life, but I’ve never seen anything quite like it with Trump. He will always back himself.
PLENTY TO TALK ABOUT: Piers Morgan and Gyles Brandreth in Bridlington
“You’ve seen recently in the last year, they’ve tried to kill him, they’ve tried to jail him, they’ve tried to ruin his life, wipe him out financially – all these things – and he ends up winning the White House back. That’s unbelievable resilience, whatever you think of him.
“He has remarkable traits. He’s very loyal. When I got canned from CNN, I can count on one hand the number of people from America who bothered to stay in touch, but he used to call me every three or four weeks for a chat.
“He still just calls me up on my mobile.
“If you like Trump, he’s very funny. If you don’t like Trump, you won’t find him funny at all. There’s very little middle ground, but he can be very, very entertaining.
“He’s also basically doing now what he campaigned on. We may not like it – and half of America doesn’t like it – but you can’t say he’s not a politician who’s doing what he said he would.”
PACKED OUT: Delegates at The Business Day at Bridlington Spa
During the wide-ranging interview, Morgan expressed his concern that “we live in a weird time when people think they can have ‘my truth’”.
“Facts are not arguable,” he said. “What is my truth? You don’t have my truth – you have the truth. It’s a fact.
“I think that’s become a really bad thing for society. So, when I look back on my time in newspapers, the things that most annoy me is when we got facts wrong because there’s no defence for that.”
Addressing his much-publicised fall-out with the Duchess of Sussex, Morgan said they had got on well until she “ghosted” him and others she had previously been friendly with.
He also claimed she cost him his job as a presenter with Good Morning Britain by writing to his boss at ITV to demand he was sacked for disputing her claims of racism within the royal family, among other things, which he refused to apologise for.
CONNECTING: Attendees networking at The Business Day
Morgan discussed how Simon Cowell gave him his break as an American TV star after he was sacked as editor of the Daily Mirror following the newspaper’s publication of fake photographs, named Nelson Mandela as the most impressive individual he has interviewed, and referenced the Grenfell Tower disaster and Post Office scandal as two of the most distressing stories he has reported on.
Morgan was then questioned about the News of the World phone hacking scandal back in 2011, which he was implicated in.
Responding to a question from a member of the audience about “how someone can take credit for the successes of a team and build a career on it, but then dispel any wrongdoing, as if it happened in a vacuum”, Morgan said: “I think it’s a perfectly valid question.
“I think phone hacking was completely wrong, and should never have been happening. There were a small number of people doing it across certain newspapers.
“I think it’s perfectly possible to run a very big newspaper and not be aware what all the journalists are up to, and I don’t make any defence that phone hacking was a good thing. I did not get involved in that myself, and I made that very clear.
IN CONVERSATION: Hull and East Yorkshire Mayor Luke Campbell
“But I think this raises a good point about if we pass judgement on leaders of other institutions and companies for their failings, you’d better get your own house in order.
“On that occasion, that scandal was very bad for newspapers and all the journalists involved. It shouldn’t have happened.”
Earlier in the day – which featured numerous break-out sessions addressing different business topics, as well networking opportunities – broadcaster, writer and former MP Brandreth also spoke with the recently elected Hull and East Yorkshire Mayor Luke Campbell.
The mayor discussed his childhood, family life, amateur and professional boxing career – becoming emotional when he revealed his father died just two weeks before a world title fight.
Talking about his new position, the Olympic gold medal winner said: “I see the role as being the voice of the people in this region, trying to bring investment in, creating jobs, upskilling our workforce, building a better infrastructure for connectivity and transport.
SPARRING: Luke Campbell and Gyles Brandreth
“For far too long now decisions have been made for the people, and I want to bridge that gap and make decisions with the people. I want to work and collab with as many people as possible to make this region a great place to live and work.”
Highlighting transport and housing as two key priorities he wants to focus on, he added: “It’s about working together on this. We should be united, not divided on this.
“I’ll be working closely with the two local authorities. We need to have strong working relationships because we have opportunities to bring in major investment.”
Following the interview, Brandreth produced a pair of boxing gloves for a bit of playful sparring, declaring: “It’s like hitting my grandson!”