Eamonn Holmes couldn’t resist taking a swipe at his former This Morning colleagues Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield after they faced accusations of “queue jumping” during their visit to see the Queen lying in state.
ITV bosses have insisted the presenters did not “jump the queue” and said in a statement that the pair had attended to film a segment due to air during Tuesday’s This Morning and were there to report on the event as media.
During Monday morning’s edition of Breakfast with Eamonn and Isabel on GB News the hosts discussed the latest news surrounding the Queen’s funeral.
Alongside guests Dawn Neesom and Christopher Biggins, Eamonn discussed the historic day ahead as millions prepare to say farewell to the Queen.
But after GB News guest Dawn said “everybody had come together” to pay their respects, Eamonn brought up his former This Morning colleagues’ trip to visit the Queen lying in state.
“Except not everyone came together,” Eamonn said.
“There’s been a lot of outrage at the ITV This Morning presenters, Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, who went their separate ways, what do you think of the reaction to them?”
Christopher replied: “Well I think it was a very silly move by them and their PR people, you know, to make this happen,
“People had queued for hours and hours and hours and you can’t have people queue… what’s the word?”
“Queue jump,” Dawn responded, as Christopher continued: “That’s it, I knew there was a word, queue jumping, you can’t have it.
“I was in Plymouth all last week doing a show for the 40th birthday of the theatre and I desperately wanted to go so we came up yesterday from Plymouth on the train to the queue and they closed the queue.
“So I wasn’t fortunate but that’s what life is. You can’t - I mean David Beckham!
“David Beckham was wonderful, what a man, he queued and I know lots of other famous people who queued - my friends Anthony and Georgina Andrews queued and he’s not well.
“You do these things for your country and for the Queen. They were out of order, I think, very much so!”
Later in the show, Eamonn made another dig at Holly and Phillip as his co-host Isabel introduced their next guests.
“After the papers, we do have a really interesting guest who suffered that queue and they were not of any insignificant age, we’ll be talking to them after this…” Isabel said before Eamonn cut in: “What, Holly and Phillip?”
Over the weekend, This Morning bosses released a statement, defending Phillip and Holly’s visit to the Queen lying in state.
It read: “Hello everyone, we would like to clarify something. We asked Phillip and Holly to be part of a film for this Tuesday’s programme.
“They did not jump the queue, have VIP access or file past the Queen lying in state – but instead were there in a professional capacity as part of the world’s media to report on the event.”
An ITV spokesperson also released a statement which read: “This Morning had press accreditation and like other media, Phillip and Holly were escorted to work from the press gallery by government staff.
“They did not file past The Queen’s coffin. They were there alongside a host of other broadcasters and national press outlets for an item that will be broadcast on Tuesday’s show.
“Any allegations of improper behaviour are categorically untrue.”