Piers Morgan has said Sky News journalist Kay Burley should be held to the same account as politicians over her Covid rule-break.
The broadcaster is currently the subject of an internal investigation after celebrating her 60th birthday in London at the weekend, whilst the capital was under tier 2 restrictions.
Kay said she had celebrated at a “Covid compliant” restaurant on Saturday and afterwards “popped into another” venue to use the bathroom. The gathering reportedly included some of her Sky News colleagues.
Piers addressed the story on Wednesday’s edition of Good Morning Britain after being asked why “we’re not commenting on this given it’s one of our own, the media”.
“We should talk about it even though they are friends of ours,” he insisted.
“My view would be, as I’m sure Kay’s view would be if she was talking about this, we should be held to account, in my opinion, exactly the same way we hold politicians to account.
“If we’re going to hold people’s feet to the fire, we’ve got to make sure we live up to the same standards.”
During the pandemic, Kay has repeatedly grilled politicians on lockdown. In May she famously quizzed cabinet minister Michael Gove on the controversy over Dominic Cummings’ trip to Barnard Castle.
On Monday evening, the presenter tweeted an apology, writing: “I want to apologise to you all for an error of judgment. On Saturday night I was enjoying my 60th birthday at a Covid compliant restaurant. I am embarrassed to say that later in the evening I inadvertently broke the rules.
“I had been waiting for a taxi at 11pm to get home. Desperate for the loo I briefly popped into another restaurant to spend a penny. I can only apologise.”
After announcing the internal investigation, Sky said that while the event had taken place in personal time, it “expected all our people to follow the rules that are in place for everyone”.
Burley was subsequently not on air on Tuesday, and her morning current affairs show was instead presented by Sarah Hewson.
Following reports she would now be off air for the rest of the year, Kay insisted on Twitter that she had always planned to take time off to visit “my beloved Africa”.
