Michael Gove has inflamed tensions with Piers Morgan after he said he received “good advice” from colleagues to boycott Good Morning Britain (GMB).
Morgan accused Gove of “suppressing free speech” after the minister admitted he he had been “told” to avoid the show.
Referencing a Scottish anecdote, Gove said: “When you get good advice from your colleagues, follow it. That’s what I’ve done but now I’m here -“
“So you’re saying it was good advice to boycott Good Morning Britain?” interrupted Morgan.
“Ah, no, I just did what I was told,” Gove replied.
“So you let Dominic Cummings tell you what to do? Really?” Morgan asked as co-host Susanna Reid shouted: “[He’s] an unelected official!”
“No, I appear on the television programmes my colleagues think are right,” Gove responded, “and now that I’m here, I’m looking forward to answering any questions you might have.”
Morgan shot back: “Excellent. You’d understand that given you’re a journalist at heart, we found the suppression of free speech on our programme a little irritating.
“Particularly given it was driven by a man who broke lockdown rules and done incalculable damage to the government’s messaging.”
Gove replied: “Good Morning viewers probably know by now what your views are on these questions and they’re robustly and brilliantly expressed and today we have an opportunity to hear them once more.”
Reacting to a clip of the interview on Twitter, David Staines posted: “Frustrating that I voted for a government. I did not vote for an advisor who seemed to have more power than the prime minister. If advisors are going to have so much power to dictate what MPs do then I want their names on ballot papers to see exactly what I’m placing my X against.”
Alan Wardrop wrote: “I get the feeling we’ll hear ‘I did what I was told’ a lot in the coming months and years.”
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