JAN MOIR: Phillip Schofield wasted no time in playing the victim

Phillip Schofield looked much diminished in his BBC interview with Amol Rajan. Yet despite his crestfallen and haggard demeanour, he wasted no time in establishing his victim credentials.

‘Do they want me to die?’ he said, speaking of the online and media coverage that has followed his exit from ITV’s This Morning show. ‘Because that is where I am, I have lost everything.’

He told how his two daughters were on suicide watch and invited viewers to imagine how that must feel for them. He said, more or less, that he would have killed himself had it not been for their ministrations once his ‘biggest, sorriest secret’ came out.

He added that he could see no way forward out of the darkness: no future, no television sofa, no nothing.

‘And this is how Caroline Flack felt,’ he said, which felt like a step too far down the path of penitence and into the city of self-pity.

Three years ago the Love Island television presenter, who was known to have mental health issues, committed suicide before going on trial for allegedly assaulting her boyfriend. For Schofield to compare himself with her was distasteful in the extreme. But here he is, by his own lights, a man with nothing left to lose.

The set-up for the 44-minute interview was sombre, formal and so serious that Rajan was even wearing a jacket and tie. There was a lot to unpack, including the timescale of Schofield’s sexual relationship with his younger colleague, the alleged toxicity and bullying in the This Morning workplace, and who knew what about when and how.

Schofield frequently had to pause to collect his emotions and occasionally looked on the verge of tears, but his voice was clear and his manner was purposeful. Unsurprisingly, his version of events was a much more tepid account than the recent scorching testimonies of former colleagues and friends.

He downgraded the relationship at the centre of the scandal into a ‘workplace fling’ and ‘a moment in the dressing room when something happened’. He was vague on numbers. In the course of the affair these moments only happened ‘four or five times’ but later he amended this to ‘five or six’. His friend was 20 when it happened, later he said he was ‘20, 21’.

He repeated the word ‘consensual’ several times, but never referred directly to sex, only to ‘it’. And he refused to answer when Rajan asked him if he had ever had other homosexual relationships, even if this might have helped to clarify matters.

It would also have been illuminating to know if Schofield had mentored any other youngsters, or secured them jobs in television, but this crucial question was not asked.

The BBC’s former media editor apologised for the prurient nature of some of his inquiries, while both men were protective and respectful of the young man in question.

‘It is clear… that he was a hugely talented and capable young man,’ said Amol. ‘Massively talented, yeah,’ said Phil. A few moments later, Schofield was asked: ‘Did you love him?’ ‘No,’ he replied. ‘We were just mates. Just mates.’

‘And this is how Caroline Flack felt,’ he said, which felt like a step too far down the path of penitence and into the city of self-pity

Schofield frequently had to pause to collect his emotions and occasionally looked on the verge of tears, but his voice was clear and his manner was purposeful

Can that be possibly true? And if that was all it was, one wonders why This Morning went into meltdown and how to explain the enormous fuss that has ensued; not to mention the hurt feelings, the workplace ructions, the no-speaks Holly, the furious wife, the sudden resignation and now the external inquiry. It doesn’t make sense, although Phillip has a theory.

‘A very prominent public figure phoned me to say “I have never seen such homophobia in my life”,’ he tutted to Rajan, which was good PR pushback. But was it true?

For this to have credence, we would have to believe that had Schofield befriended a 15-year-old schoolgirl, kept in touch, got her a job as his assistant on This Morning when she was still in her teens, had sex with her when she was ‘20, 21’ – and then lied about their relationship to his bosses and his wife – it would not have been a scandal? M’lud, I beg to argue that it still very much would.

During the interview, Schofield repeatedly said that everything was his fault, while stealthily spreading blame around like cracked icing on a crumbling cake. Homophobia, the media, sly references to the likes of Eamonn Holmes.

‘All I see is angry people shouting about shows they are not on any more,’ he said, in an admirably pitched bitch. It was notable that he was far more apologetic to the young man than to his wife. ‘To him I am the most sorry,’ he said.

Indeed, he talked of how awful it was telling his wife the truth. ‘Oh my God, can you imagine how difficult that conversation was? It was the most incredibly difficult conversation I have ever had to have with her,’ he said, looking ashen.

As the neatly conducted interview came to a close, one was left with the suspicion that it was possibly much more difficult for her.