Jeremy Clarkson ‘seriously doubts’ ITV boss knew about Phil Schofield’s affair

Former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson, 63, has claimed ITV’s chief executive was probably unaware of the affair between This Morning presenter Phillip Schofield, 61, and a much younger male colleague.

Phillip has since confessed to the affair, which happened while he was still with his wife Stephanie Lowe, and apologised for lying about his “unwise but not illegal” relationship.

Suggesting that Phillip was being subjected to harsher judgement due to his sexuality, The Clarkson’s Farm star has also called the controversy surrounding the romance “a witch-hunt” and has insisted it wasn’t fair as the Dancing Once Ice host “didn’t break the law”.

In his latest column for The Sunday Times, Jeremy reflected on how the workplace used to be a place of “constant abuse”, where “everyone was berated for everything” by their bosses.

Noting that things had changed a lot since the 70s, the former BBC star argued that show bosses nowadays “aren’t evil”.

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He then went on to argue that it was unlikely ITV Chief Executive Carolyn McCall would have known about the affair.

He wrote: “People have been suggesting that Carolyn McCall, the ITV chief executive, was fully aware that Phillip Schofield and his young man-friend were making the two-headed beast, but I seriously doubt that.

“She’s got the share price to worry about, and the launch of the new ITVX service, and she’s also engaged in an apparent one-woman quest to rid the screen of all middle-aged men: Morgan, Kyle, etc,” he quipped.

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“So there’s no way she has the time to work out who’s doing what to whom in the stationery cupboards.”

Elsewhere in the article, Jeremy also defended Phillip, arguing: “I’ve never seen a witch-hunt like it, and what baffles me most of all is that, as things stand, no crime has been committed.

“I don’t know him at all well and have no skin in the game, but it seems to me he is only guilty of being what he said he was: gay.”

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ITV told Express.co.uk: “ITV can confirm that when rumours of a relationship between Phillip Schofield and an employee of ITV first began to circulate in early 2020 ITV investigated,” the statement said.

“Both parties were questioned and both categorically and repeatedly denied the rumours as did Phillip’s then agency, YMU. In addition, ITV spoke to a number of people who worked on This Morning and were not provided with, and did not find, any evidence of a relationship beyond hearsay and rumour.

“Phillip’s statement [on Friday] reveals that he lied to people at ITV, from senior management to fellow presenters, to YMU, to the media and to others over this relationship.”

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