What has ITV’s Dame Carolyn McCall been saying about Phillip Schofield in MPs' questioning?

One week after Holly Willoughby addressed Phillip Schofield’s exit from This Morning, encouraging the programme to turn a new page, ITV’s bosses are being questioned on the talk show’s previous chapters following Schofield’s ‘unwise but not illegal affair’.

ITV CEO Dame Carolyn McCall was invited to this morning’s session with the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, where the MPs will ask the boss of five years, alongside managing director Kevin Lygo and general counsel Kyla Mullins, questions about the broadcaster’s complaint handling and safeguarding in light of the scandal.

From 10am, Dame Carolyn McCall has spoken about the allegations of toxicity in the workplace brought forward by Eamonn Holmes and Dr Ranj Singh as well as started to give evidence surrounding their investigation into Phillip Schofield’s affair with a younger male colleague and protecting Phillip’s mental health after he came out on the show in 2020.

In a case of Carolyn versus Caroline, Dame Caroline Dineage, the chair of CMS committee, opened proceedings by declaring they want to respect the other person involved and stressed that the questions would not be a ‘witch hunt’ against Phillip Schofield.

So what has Carolyn McCall said about Phillip Schofield?

The first question posed to the first female boss of ITV was whether ‘everybody knew’ about Phillip’s affair with ‘Person X’, as seen by people like former ITV presenter Piers Morgan stating so online.

Carolyn responded that she is glad ‘duty of care’ is being discussed but what people are alluding to is simply ‘speculation’ and ‘misinformation’ based on rumours: 

“The people that said they knew…if any one of the individuals you have named or referenced had come to us and said ‘there is evidence’...we would have been able to launch a formal investigation, because the imbalance of power and dynamics in that relationship makes it deeply inappropriate.”

The bosses suggested that they started to become aware of rumours surrounding Phillip Schofield’s affair after he came out as gay in February 2020 but insisted that every conversation that took place (reportedly 12) with the former presenter was logged and proved that he and Person X continually denied the relationship.

The dialogue continued between bosses and Phillip from February 2020 until May of this year, when he left the show after over 20 years, due to the ‘very, very horrible’ rumours on social media, but no evidence was given.

Bosses then flagged to MPs that the first time potential issues had come to light was after a newspaper published in 2019 that Phillip’s PA was moving programmes after a ‘close relationship with him’, meaning the commercial broadcaster had to field questions.

While Carolyn McCall is answering most of the questions from MPs, Kevin Lygo highlighted that when they asked why Phillip Schofield wanted to come out as gay on This Morning, the presenter replied that there was nothing specific, but a private matter.

As ‘intense speculation’ continued to mount from audiences and press surrounding the relationship between Person X and Phillip Schofield, chief executive Dame McCall stated that they had no legal reasons to start a formal investigation at the time but conducted more informal conversations with the younger colleague as they were concerned about his mental health.

Carolyn said: “No one would ever turn a blind eye to something as serious as this,” before saying later in the discussion that if they were made aware, they would have not only not covered it up but also removed one of their ‘biggest stars’ from the show. 

Although Phillip Schofield has left ITV, Carolyn revealed the broadcaster is still in touch with him to ‘focus on his welfare’ as he receives counselling while the head of production continues to converse with Person X and has offered an ongoing package of support.

Despite some reports, the bosses clarify that there are ‘no NDAs or gagging orders’ against the younger colleague speaking out.

The committee meeting turned from the current situation to how Person X came to be on This Morning and in turn Loose Women, with MPs asking whether there were ‘alarm bells’ when Person X applied in the ‘normal way’ by putting himself down as a ‘family friend of Phillip Schofield’s’; to which the bosses replied in the negative.

The committee meeting is ongoing, keep an eye out on PeopleWorld for the latest.