T V chiefs ‘gave Phil’s lover a pay-off after their affair’

ITV bosses face further questions about what they knew of Phillip Schofield’s affair with a This Morning colleague after claims emerged that the younger lover received a financial settlement from the broadcaster.

The Daily Mail has been told he was given a payment after the end of the onoff relationship – which Schofield described as ‘unwise but not illegal’.

ITV has repeatedly declined to comment on the alleged settlement or deny it. There were no comments from a representative of the presenter, who quit the channel on Friday after he revealed to the Daily Mail that he had lied about the affair to our sister paper, The Mail on Sunday. But a source claims that the money was handed to the man, who, after he declared his love for Schofield at an awards ceremony in January 2020, was shunted to another of the network’s daytime programmes, Loose Women. He no longer works there.

ITV insiders said bosses at some level must have known about any payment. One added: ‘There have been numerous pay-offs at ITV and they have always had to be arranged and sanctioned by people of some seniority.’

The claims come as pressure has increased on the broadcaster’s chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall, director of TV Kevin Lygo and head of daytime Emma Gormley to speak out about what they knew.

One source at the channel said: ‘This is unravelling fast and there is no evidence to suggest it will come to an end any time soon.

‘There are a lot of people out there who feel wronged by ITV and they now have the confidence to have their say. The house of cards appears to be collapsing, it is anybody’s guess where this ends now.’

It comes after former This Morning presenter Eamonn Holmes accused ITV bosses of orchestrating a ‘total cover-up’ of Schofield’s affair with his younger lover, saying those in authority ‘had to know’ about the secret relationship.

The pair met when Schofield was in his 50s and giving a talk to a theatre school. At that time, his future lover was 15 and keen to make a career in the TV industry.

He moved down to London aged 18 and began working at This Morning, before striking up the secret relationship with the presenter.

In an interview on GB News on Monday evening, Holmes, labelled Schofield, 61, a ‘chief narcissist’.

He claimed Schofield’s lover would be ferried between the presenter’s flat and the studios in taxis paid for by the network.

Holmes said: ‘I didn’t know but I’ve subsequently found out from a very, very good source, because he would arrive much earlier in the morning than I would for the programme, that he was delivered from Phillip’s London home. Usually on a Friday morning, because Thursday was playtime when he and Phillip would hit the town and then he obviously stayed overnight.’

Asked if management would had to have known, Holmes replied: ‘Unless Phillip paid the bills separately, but it would still have to go through the accounts office that they would have seen that.’

In the second part of the interview, which was broadcast last night, Holmes agreed with MailOnline columnist Dan Wootton that if anyone questioned Ms McCall’s ‘woke narrative... they are out’. Sources close to Schofield said: ‘If Eamonn Holmes wants to be that cruel to someone in Phillip’s position then that I think says more about Eamonn than Phillip.’

ITV is still refusing to give the Daily Mail any further detail of an investigation it insists took place. Sources close to the younger man say it did not ask him about the affair as part of any probe.

ITV bosses are set to be questioned by MPs about the broadcaster’s handling of Schofield’s affair when they face the Commons culture committee next Tuesday.