This was the moment a government minister dramatically walked off a Good Morning Britain interview after accusing Piers Morgan of making an insulting remark.
Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey was addressing the reasons for the UK’s high COVID death rates on the programme, before abruptly turning off her video link.
Research by Oxford University revealed last week that the United Kingdom had the worst seven day average of daily COVID 19 deaths per million people.
When asked by hosts Piers and Susanna as to why the country might have been put in this situation, the government minister cited obesity and an ageing population as two possible reasons.
Therese Coffey said that they’d been learning during this process, working with scientific advisers, and seeking to take the appropriate policies and that there was a variety of reasons why people had died due to this, and that some of that would be recognising the age of our population and some of it would be recognising the obesity of our population.
Piers pushed her further, inquiring if she was saying then that the reason for us having the worst death rate in the world was because the people were too old and too fat, but Therese Coffey said that she thought what he’d said was insulting.
And she said that she was conscious that there were a variety of factors that would have led to people sadly being sick during this, sadly turning into deaths and that our own Prime Minister was in the hospital, in intensive care himself last April, and she was conscious that they were making sure they had wrap-around support for people during the pandemic.
Confused, Piers asked Therese Coffey what she found insulting about his question.
This was when the minister started to leave the video call, implying that it had begun late and she had other engagements and she said that she wanted to point out that they began the interview late, and that she had to go and that she wished they had more time.
Piers responded that he hadn’t interviewed her since May and it was her that boycotted the programme and that she shouldn’t play the “you’ve not given enough time” card because she’d had eight months.
But Therese Coffey reached over to turn off her webcam, thanking Piers, saying that they were scheduled to commence at 8.15 am and that she was sorry but she had to go to another broadcaster.
An agitated Piers Morgan later took to Twitter to whine about the interview ending early, and he said that she wanted to get out of there before she had to justify only condemning Britain’s age and obesity for our shocking COVID death rate, rather than Government failures, adding that it was extraordinary arrogance.
Piers said that he asked the minister to explain our terrible death rate, she cited UK population old age and obesity, not any Government failures. He said he challenged her on this and she called him insulting and ended the interview.
But Therese Coffey insisted that what caused her to abruptly end the interview was the fact it was running behind schedule rather than the material that was being addressed.
Bemused viewers also took to social media to discuss the early ending to the minister’s interview, and one person wrote on Twitter that Therese Coffee must have thought she was at a cabinet meeting when making that comment about aged and obese, then realised she wasn’t.
Although if the lady was to take a look at herself in the mirror sometime, preferably soon, she might realise that she is, and that calling Piers Morgan insulting isn’t going to improve the way that she looks – mirror time Therese Coffey, and wasn’t she just a little touchy on the subject?
Is that because she was calling herself a big blob with a big gob? But then that’s a typical arrogant MP for you. She seems to forget we the people pay her wages.
Dismiss her and put her on Universal Credit, she would soon change her stance on what’s going on, and she definitely met the criteria for people catching the virus – yes dear, you’re first in the queue aren’t you? And all those expenses she claims would have gone to her Body Mass Index.
Anything that goes wrong in this country, just blame the old and overweight people. Therese Coffey seems to forget that she’ll be old one day, and then maybe she will feel the resentment that she’s feeling for the elderly and obese today, and it’s not like she’s a shining symbol of health!
And whoever thought this ridiculous and offensive woman would make it to being a politician? And she spoke like a robot with prepared responses to whatever was asked and then because she didn’t like hearing her own words recited back at her she did a Donald Trump and ducked out of the interview.
