By Niall McCrae
Erstwhile presenter of the daily Good Morning Britain show on ITV, Piers Morgan is one of the big beasts of British broadcasting. Opinionated, cocky and self-centred, he has dominated the media for many years.
Like most of his peers, Morgan voted Remain in the EU referendum in 2016, but shifted to a pro-Brexit stance afterwards, in exasperation at the efforts of those with power and privilege to obstruct the verdict of the British people.
Given any controversy, Morgan will be emphatic on whichever side he chooses. He is unpredictable, and enjoys being a contrarian. Love him or loathe him, he is a principled person who does not shy of being lampooned or hated.
In October last year his book Wake Up! was published, an appeal for free speech in the context of a puritanical cancel culture. Morgan has now become a victim himself, after sparking a Twitter storm after stridently criticising Meghan Markle for accusing the Royal Family of racism. He walked out of the studio on being challenged by a fellow presenter.
Morgan was apparently given an ultimatum by his bosses: apologise profusely or go. So he walked, telling the clamour of journalists: –
‘I believe in freedom of speech. I believe in the right to have an opinion. If people want to believe Meghan Markle, that’s entirely their right. I don’t believe almost anything that comes out of her mouth. If I have to fall on my sword for expressing honestly held opinions about Meghan Markle and that diatribe of bilge she came out with in that interview, then so be it.’
Toby Young’s Free Speech Union stepped in, tweeting: –
‘No one should lose their job at the behest of a twitter mob. Reports that @itvnews were insisting he apologise for his remarks about Meghan are deeply concerning. Piers has always defended others’ rights to free speech. We should stick up for his’.
This offer of support was not welcomed by many lockdown sceptics, who Morgan has persistently ridiculed and demonised. Laura Perrins, editor of Conservative Woman, called saw this as an idiotic intervention. But Toby Young did not found the Free Speech Union only for people on the wrong side of political correctness. It exists to represent anyone who has been censured or punished for speaking their mind, as we should be able to do in a supposedly open and tolerant society.
What will Morgan do next? With his wealth he probably doesn’t need to work ever again, but this balloon of bluster will not stay still for long. Whatever platform he finds, my guess is that he will surprise us with a change of outlook on the Covid crisis.
As with Brexit, Morgan will see which way the wind is blowing. While rich Remainers had the mainstream media on their side, the ordinary folk looked aghast at how democracy was being overturned by bad losers. Will Morgan have an epiphany on the Covid regime? Will he wake up to the motives of the globalist establishment in depriving us of fundamental liberties? Will he see that this is not really about a coronavirus, but control?
With his ability to lance the biggest of boils, Morgan would be a tremendous asset to the cause of liberty.
Opinions from the Unity News Network (UNN) editorial team & various contributors. | UNN always clearly distinguishes between news and opinion pieces and as an open minded outlet we publish views from a variety of people and organisation that do not necessarily reflect the views of UNN or its writers. Articles published under UNN Opinions are always opinion pieces and if published on behalf of a contributor will contain that authors name at the start of the piece.
