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Piers Morgan has dismissed death threats from trolls and petitions to have him fired from Good Morning Britain, saying they will only encourage him to challenge the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis “louder and harder”. 

In an update on Twitter, the presenter revealed he’d received threats on his life over the way he has been holding power to account. 

Piers has been a vocal critic of the way the government has responded to the pandemic both online and on Good Morning Britain, where he has grilled government ministers. 

After it was reported a petition to have him fired from the ITV breakfast show had hit 50,000, Piers tweeted: “Memo to trolls: the more you try to silence me with foul-mouthed abuse, death threats and petitions for me to be fired, the louder and harder I will challenge the Govt over its handling of this crisis.

“Lives depend on it.” 

While Piers and co-host Susanna Reid have won praise from many viewers for their interviews with government officials about the coronavirus crisis, his direct approach has not always proved popular. 

More than 3,000 complaints were made to the TV watchdog Ofcom following two interviews with care minister Helen Whately on GMB last month.

Another 600 viewers also complained about Piers’ interview with health secretary Matt Hancock on 16 April.

However, both matters were cleared by Ofcom, who ruled that Piers is “well-known for his combative interviewing style” and viewers would expect him to challenge senior politicians.

Piers later claimed the government had imposed a “pathetic and cowardly” ban on ministers appearing on the ITV breakfast show, and has publicly criticised Hancock, foreign secretary Dominic Raab and chancellor Rishi Sunak for dodging interviews on GMB last week.

On Sunday night, the presenter said the apparent ban was continuing, writing: “UPDATE: The Govt has refused to put any minister up for interview on @GMB tomorrow. This will be the 20th day of its boycott of our show during the worst national crisis since WW2. All because we asked them tough questions.

“We’ll keep asking them. cc @BorisJohnson.”

HuffPost UK contacted 10 Downing Street for comment last week, but did not receive a response.

Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on ITV.