From Sun pop columnist to obsessive critic of Meghan Markle: The rise and fall of Piers Morgan

It was 6.38am when Piers Morgan huffed from the set of Good Morning Britain, almost parading out of the studio in either real or feigned indignation.

Yet his departure - “OK, I’m done with this” - if not planned, at least felt preordained. For much of his career, the man born Piers Stefan O’Meara, has been quitting jobs, friendships and roles in dramatic fashion.

Sometimes he has been given a sharp boot, but he has always managed to land on his feet.

The 55-year-old’s departure from ITV studios in London follows criticism of Morgan from one of his fellow presenters on the morning show, which can attract more than 1.5 million viewers.

Follow Piers Morgan updates – live: Ex-GMB presenter says he is ‘uncancellable’ as Meghan ‘lodges official complaint’

Alex Beresford had seized on comments Morgan made the day before about the Duchess of Sussex, attacking her over the interview she and the Duke of Sussex gave to Oprah Winfrey, disputing her claim to have felt suicidal when she was a member of the British royal family.

“I’m sorry, I don’t believe a word she said, Meghan Markle,” Morgan had said, after the couple’s interview aired first in the US. “I wouldn’t believe it if she read me a weather report.”

On Tuesday, Beresford turned the focus onto Morgan, who is widely accused of being obsessed with Meghan.

“I understand that you don’t like Meghan Markle. You’ve made it so clear a number of times on this programme, and I understand that you had a personal relationship with Meghan Markle and she cut you off,” he said.

“Has she said anything about you after she cut you off? She’s entitled to cut you off if she wants to. And yet you continue to trash her.”

It was at that point Morgan left the set. Later in the day, ITV said that following a conversation with the presenter he had decided it was “time” to leave the show entirely. “ITV has accepted this decision and has nothing further to add.”

On Tuesday, there was speculation as to Morgan’s future, with some suggestions he may end up on one of two new conservative news channels set to go live imminently.

On one thing there appeared unanimity: that was not the last the viewing public had seen of Piers Morgan.

The privately-educated Morgan, who took the name Pughe-Morgan when his mother remarried but dropped his double-barrelled surname when he started as a journalist, began his Fleet Street career in 1989 as an industrious pop columnist on The Sun’s Bizarre column. Styling himself as a “friend of the stars”, Morgan was a consummate networker and never suffered from a lack of confidence.

In 1994, Rupert Murdoch made him editor of the News of the World, at the age of just 29. The following year he was made editor of the left-leaning Daily Mirror.

In 2000, Morgan was accused of insider trading after buying shares that had been tipped in one of the paper’s business columns. He denied the claims and no charges were brought. An investigation by the Press Complaints Commission found he had acted wrongly, but he was able to keep his job.

He was not so fortunate in 2004, when in the aftermath of the Abu Ghraib Iraqi prisoner torture scandal, the newspaper printed images claiming to show British troops abusing detainees. It soon transpired the images had been staged. Trinity Mirror chairperson Sly Bailey called Morgan to her office and fired him.

“He got called down to Sly's office this afternoon and wasn’t even allowed back up to the 22nd floor to say goodbye to his staff,” one insider told The Guardian. “He was escorted out of the building by security.”

At that point Morgan turned to television, filming a series of programmes for the BBC and appearing as a judge on reality television shows, such as America’s Got Talent. In 2008, he was the winner of the “celebrity” version of The Apprentice, where he met a certain Donald Trump.

In December of that year Morgan interviewed Trump for GQ magazine, prefacing the article with this: “Donald Trump and I are pretty ‘tight’ as they say in America.”

In 2010, Morgan was named the replacement for CNN’s veteran broadcaster Larry King. The challenge of replacing King would have been vast for anyone.

Morgan did his best, trying to make waves by campaigning against what he determined to be the nation’s mad situation in regard to firearms. But after some initial positive reviews – his first guest was Winfrey – the show lost ratings and he was pushed out in 2014.

In 2015, back in Britain, he made his way to Good Morning Britain, co-hosting with a frequently alarmed looking Susanna Reid.

Throughout he wrote a column for the Daily Mail and enjoyed a Twitter following of a little less than 8 million. Among the targets of his anger and acidity have been Jeremy Clarkson, Emily Ratajkowski and critics of the royal family.

Often it appeared his comments and assertions were designed solely to stir controversy. At Good Morning Britain, he has been the subject of countless complaints to the television watchdog, Ofcom.

Since the coronavirus struck, Morgan had been praised for pressing for action from British ministers, and his eventual abandonment of Trump’s apparent denialism.

British political activist Femi Oluwole pointed to this on Tuesday.

“Put aside everything else about who Piers Morgan is,” he said: “This government has overseen one of the worst death tolls and recessions on the planet and instead of losing their jobs, the main journalist who held them to account, lost his.”

Morgan’s intense interest in Meghan, pregnant with her second child and now living in California with Prince Harry, is said to have been triggered by his encounter with her in 2016, literally the same night she is said to have met the prince.

“We had two hours in the pub, she had a couple of dirty martinis and pints – we got on brilliantly,” he told Ryan Tubridy, host of Ireland’s The Late Show two years ago, explaining the Suits star was in London to see Serena Williams.

“Then I put her in a cab, and it turns out it was the cab that took her to a party where she met Prince Harry. The next night they had a solo dinner and that was the last I ever heard from Meghan Markle.”

He added: “I never heard from her again – Meghan Markle ghosted me.”

Indeed, Morgan had made little attempt to hide his contempt for her.

One Daily Mail column, published six months after she and Prince Harry were married, was headlined: “Meghan Markle is a ruthless social climbing actress who has landed the role of her life and is determined to milk it for all she can - and that’s why the palace is beginning to turn on her.”

In his comments on Monday’s show, Morgan had not only disputed Meghan’s claim of depression, but also sought to defend an alleged inquiry by a member of the royal family, made when she was expecting their first child, as to the colour of the baby’s skin, questioning whether such a remark would be “automatically racist”.

His remarks led to more than 41,000 complaints to Ofcom, which said it was investing.

He was also confronted on air by a fellow presenter, Trisha Goddard.

“Why is everybody else such an expert about racism against Black people,” she asked him.  “I’m sorry, Piers – you don’t get to call out what is and isn’t racism against Black people. I’ll leave you to call out all the other stuff you want, but leave the racism stuff to us, eh?”

When Morgan left the set on Tuesday morning, he did so with the words of his co-presenter, Alex Beresford, echoing in his ears.

“Do you know what? That’s pathetic. This is absolutely diabolical behaviour,” he said. “I’m sorry, but Piers spouts off on a regular basis and we all have to sit there and listen.”