As ITV launches Phillip Schofield review – read the letter in full

ok.co.uk:

ITV has hired a leading employment lawyer to conduct an investigation into Phillip Schofield's departure from This Morning, and the scandal that followed his admittance to an "unwise but not illegal" affair with a much younger colleague.

A letter from ITV chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall to the head of Ofcom and Lucy Frazer, the Culture Secretary, obtained by the PA news agency, sees Carolyn write that Jane Mulcahy KC will "carry out an external review of the facts." It comes after ITV revealed it had investigated rumours of the relationship three years ago but was lied to by Phillip and didn't find any evidence of a relationship "beyond hearsay and rumour." Here is the letter from Dame Carolyn McCall to Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer, DCMS Committee chairwoman, Dame Caroline Dinenage, and Ofcom chief executive, Dame Melanie Dawes, in full: "Dear Lucy, Dame Caroline, and Dame Melanie, "You will have seen the significant media coverage concerning Phillip Schofield.

As you would expect we take the matter extremely seriously and have reviewed our own records over the weekend. "These show that when rumours of a relationship between Phillip Schofield and an employee of ITV first began to circulate in late 2019/early 2020 ITV investigated.

Both parties were questioned then and both categorically and repeatedly denied the rumours, as did Phillip’s then agency YMU. "In addition, ITV spoke to a number of people who worked on the This Morning and wider Daytime team and were not provided with, and did not find any evidence of a relationship beyond hearsay and rumour.