Piers Morgan has defended Fiona Bruce after she was accused of ‘trivialising’ domestic violence on Question Time with comments about Stanley Johnson.
Bruce, 58, took part in a debate on an alleged instance of domestic abuse involving Johnson’s ex-wife, who earlier claimed that he fractured her nose.
Bruce clarified, saying, ‘Stanley Johnson has not commented publicly on it. Friends of his stated it did happen, but it was a one-time occurrence.’
The statements triggered an outpouring of criticism on social media, and she eventually apologised and said that she would stand down as an ambassador for the organisation Refuge.
Bruce said in a statement declaring her resignation from her role at Refuge: ‘Last week on Question Time, I was required to legally contextualise a question about Stanley Johnson. Those words have been taken as an expression of my own opinions which they are absolutely not, and as a minimising of domestic abuse, which I would never do.’
She continued: ‘I know survivors of domestic abuse have been distressed by what I was required to say on-air. For that, I am deeply sorry. I cannot change what I was required to say, but I can apologise for the very real impact that I can see it has had.’
After Bruce’s revelation, Refuge issued its own statement, saying: ‘Refuge’s position was, and is, clear – domestic violence is never a “one-off,” it is a pattern of behaviour that can express in a variety of ways, including but not limited to physical assault. Domestic violence should never be tolerated.’
The charity spoke to survivors of domestic abuse who explained how ‘devastating’ the wording had been for them, adding: ‘While we know the words were not Fiona’s own and were words she was legally obliged to read out, this does not lessen their impact and we cannot lose sight of that.’
The charity stressed that those words ‘minimised the seriousness of domestic abuse and this has been retraumatising for survivors’, adding that their focus ‘must remain’ on survivors, stating: ‘Every two minutes someone turns to Refuge for help and our priority is the women and their children who need us.’
‘What a shameful cowardly way to treat someone who did so much to promote your charity,’ presenter Morgan snarled in response to their remark.
‘Fiona Bruce is a thoroughly decent woman who deserves more than being tossed to the virtue-signalling wolves over something she was directed to say in the heat of live TV.’
His remark ignited a debate on Twitter, with some supporting the Uncensored presenter. ‘Wow, that’s a first, I agree with you,’ one commented.
‘Believe it was the only happened once statement that was in really terrible taste,’ wrote another.
His comments came after Susanna Reid called the pile-on against Bruce as ‘outrageous’.
Reid, 52, discussed Bruce’s choice with co-host Ed Balls, 56, and a panel of guests on Tuesday’s Good Morning Britain, following the harsh criticism she got on social media for her talk with Yasmin Alibhai-Brown about Johnson on Question Time.
‘She wasn’t saying that she believed that, she was saying that’s what the other side said,’ Reid said.
Emphasising her defence of Bruce, Reid added: ‘She very clearly says in that clip that she is contextualising it and giving the right of reply. She wasn’t arguing with Yasmin Alibhai-Brown. I think it’s outrageous that she is being held personally accountable.’
According to The Gambler, a biography created on former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, his father Stanley fractured his mother Charlotte’s nose.
‘He broke my nose,’ Charlotte is reported as saying. ‘He made me feel like I deserved it.’
When the book was launched in October 2020, both Stanley and Number 10 declined to comment, with Stanley expressing “deep remorse” for the claimed event.
Source My Celebrity Life.