EAMONN Holmes has taken a subtle dig at Phillip Schofield after a This Morning fan called for a presenter shake-up.
It comes after Phil and Holly Willoughby appeared inside Westminster Hall to see the Queen lying-in-state without having taken part in the queue.
Eamonn Holmes has taken a subtle dig at Phillip Schofield
It comes after Phil and Holly Willoughby appeared to jump the queue at Westminster Hall
Willoughby and Schofield – the faces of This Morning – queued in a separate line to the thousands of mourners who waited hours to view the Queen in the ancient hall.
As a result, the pair become a trending topic on Twitter, with many left “disgusted” after they seemed to have “jumped the queue”.
One person penned: “Thoughts are with the This Morning writer currently slaving over a laptop desperately trying to come up with a convincing excuse for Phil Schofield and Holly Willoughby.”
Questioning whether the duo would be replaced, someone else replied: “Does this mean we can have Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langford back on This Morning?”
And it seems Eamonn liked the sound of that, too, with the veteran broadcaster liking the tweet.
Taking to Instagram on Saturday evening, ITV rushed to the defence of the pair.
They insisted that they had in fact been at the event in a “professional capacity”, for which they were granted VIP access to report upon.
A statement on the programme’s social media account said: “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.”
Other famous faces have also paid their respects to the Queen ahead of her funeral.
Good Morning Britain host Susanna Reid said she had queued for seven hours and 20 minutes to see the lying-in-state.
And David Beckham won praise after he joined the queue at 2am on Friday, waiting 12 hours with the public before he reached the coffin.
One This Morning fan called for the return of Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford
Eamonn and Ruth were a This Morning institution for 15 years
