- Minister discusses celebrating Piers Morgan GMB departure with Matt Hancock
- Mr Hancock replied ‘absolutely right’ in the message, one of the latest to be released
No10’s social care minister joked about celebrating Piers Morgan’s departure from Good Morning Britain after a disastrous interview with the host.
Helen Whalley asked ex-health secretary Matt Hancock if he should toast her leaving the ITV show in March 2021.
Mr Hancock replied ‘absolutely right’ to a message released from a trove of over 100,000 WhatsApp messages sent to The Telegraph by journalist Isabel Oakeshott.
The comments come after Ms Whalley’s infamous run-in with Piers a year ago, when he blasted her for laughing when asked about the death toll in England’s care homes during the early days of the Covid pandemic.
In a message to Mr Hancock on 9 March 2021, Ms Whatley said: ‘How about we celebrate Piers’ departure after our team meeting? just a thought.’
The former health secretary replied: ‘Absolutely correct’.
This is despite the UK being in its third lockdown, during which social gatherings indoors were illegal.
The Telegraph reported that the message, which has not been seen or independently verified by MailOnline, does not indicate whether the plans were in fact made.
But a government spokesman said there was ‘no celebration’ and Ms Whatley’s comments were ‘a joke’.
This came after Pierce sensationally quit the show that day, which he co-hosted with Susanna Reed.
Meghan Markle came to blows after she said she ‘didn’t believe a word’ of it during her blockbuster interview with Oprah Winfrey, in which she detailed her mental health struggles.
A day after making the comments, the 57-year-old stormed out of the studio after being challenged by meteorologist Alex Beresford, who said Piers had continued to ‘trashhold’ Meghan even though he had not spoken about her.
Pearse’s comments led to Ofcom receiving around 60,000 complaints.
But the media watchdog ruled that his criticism, which included referring to Meghan as ‘Princess Pinocchio’, did not breach broadcasting codes.
About a year before his exit from the show, which saw record ratings during Pearce’s time, he had a falling out with Ms. Whatley.
He asked the MP for Faversham and Mid Kent whether it was true that 4,000 people had died in care homes because of the virus.
The Daily Mail exclusive warned there was a ‘hidden epidemic’ of Covid deaths in care homes, because of a lack of tests to confirm the fatalities were beneath the virus.
He asked: ‘Is it true that 4,000 people have died in care homes? Yes or no?’
The Social Care Minister thanked them for acknowledging the work the government was doing and said the work was ‘really important’.
Pearce interrupted to say that it was more important that 4,000 people died and that he was showing the audience The Daily Mail front page, only for the minister to laugh.
The host said: ‘I don’t know why you’re laughing. why are you laughing I’m telling you what it is, it’s very serious indeed.
‘It says that 4,000 people may have died in care homes in this country. I mean why are you doing all these tests now?’
Ms Whatley replied: ‘I’m sorry. My reaction was just because you said you would show me something. I have been asked to set the camera, so I am watching it so that I cannot see what you have caught.’
Pearce continued to press Ms Whatley whether the figures were correct and asked her why she was laughing.
Additional WhatsApp messages between Mr Hancock and his team on 3 May 2020 show what Mr Hancock intentionally told Pearce after he revealed he had mild Covid symptoms and would be at GMB until his results came back But will not appear.
In a group chat with colleagues, Mr Hancock shared a link to the tweet and said: ‘As fascinating as this is, I probably shouldn’t comment on it, but some colleagues have kindly pointed out that he was only referring to the ramp. Reason can be tested. The increase in testing last week would be good.
The former health secretary was advised to ‘tweet him well wishes’ and ‘be really classy’ and then ‘let others know how classy you are’.
After deliberations in the group chat, Mr Hancock finally tweeted: ‘Sorry to see Piers Morgan has symptoms of coronavirus. If you test positive, I sincerely hope it is mild. Get well soon.