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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Rose Hill

Holly Willoughby expresses horror over Bernie Ecclestone's Putin comments

Holly Willoughby has expressed her horror over Bernie Ecclestone's shocking comments about Vladimir Putin earlier today.

The former F1 boss, 91, told stunned Good Morning Britain hosts Kate Garraway and Ben Shephard that he would "still take a bullet" for the Russian president.

He went on to describe Putin as a "first class person", adding: "What he's doing is something that he believed was the right thing he was doing for Russia.

"Unfortunately, he's like a lot of business person - certainly like me - that we make mistakes from time-to-time."

Putin began his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and in May, it was estimated that more than 4,000 civilians had been killed in Ukraine, according to the UN rights office.

Addressing the remarks on This Morning today, hosts Holly and Phillip Schofield were joined by former GB News and BBC newsreader Simon McCoy and LBC's Tom Swarbrick.

"That was a Formula 1 car crash," McCoy pointed out. "Outrageous thing to say... frankly, Kate handled the interview very well on GMB."

Holly and Phil were joined by Simon McCoy and Tom Swarbrick (ITV)

While Swarbrick branded Ecclestone a "useful idiot in action".

Afterwards, Holly gave her own two cents as she said: "Not great at all - shocking viewing."

Ex-F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone said he'd still take a bullet for Vladimir Putin (ITV)

Later on GMB, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss had shared her disgust over Ecclestone's remarks.

Referring to his comments, Kate said to Truss: "It's a controversial position, but it is his position and he knows Vladimir Putin well. What do you make of those comments?"

Truss replied: "I think those comments are extraordinary, absolutely extraordinary."

Ecclestone described Putin as a 'first class person' (Mikhail Metzel/TASS)

Shaking her head, Truss continued: "This is a man who has perpetrated an appalling war including the systematic rape of women, the targeting of civilians in shopping centres.

"I find those comments absolutely extraordinary by Bernie Ecclestone. Clearly, Vladimir Putin is toxic, the Prime Minister is right to say that.

"And I find the apologists for Putin, when people can see on their TV screens the appalling things that are happening on the ground in Ukraine, the appalling suffering of the Ukrainian people, I find that absolutely shocking," she added.

An F1 spokesman told The Mirror: “The comments made by Bernie Ecclestone are his personal views and are in very stark contrast to the position of the modern values of our sport.”

*This Morning airs weekdays at 10am on ITV

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