Richard Madeley and his fellow Good Morning Britain co-stars risked a run-in with the Ofcom regulations on Wednesday morning as they discussed banning swearing in the office.
The debate has been reignited after an employment tribunal ruled that dropping the f-bomb in the workplace carries a ‘lack of significance’ in this day and age.
Richard was joined by co-host Susanna Reid as well as guest journalists Andrew Pierce and Kevin Maguire, both of whom insisted they would never swear in front of their parents.
A laughing Susanna then reminded them: “You both swore in front of millions of people, what are you talking about?”
Andrew then joked: “ Matt Hancock deserved it,” after Susanna had been forced to apologise late last year after he was labelled a 'd***head' live on air.
The incident came last November when former Health Secretary, 44, who quit after breaking his own lockdown rules by having an affair with long-time aide Gina Coladangelo, sensationally confirmed he had signed up for in I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!
In a heated discussion about the topic, Daily Mail journalist Pierce made a jibe about the politician, saying: “He's a d***head... I can say that, can't I?” But Susanna quickly jumped in: “No! Apologies, everyone.”
The Mirror journalist Kevin then apologised for his own incident of swearing in the live ITV studio, gesturing to Andrew and saying: “His tripe just provokes it.”
In that incident, Susanna was left gasping in the ITV studio as he swore live on air during a debate over strike action.
Kevin and Andrew came to verbal blows during the discussion at the time, as they raised the anti-strike bill in the House of Commons today.
Yet during the discussion on Good Morning Britain, Kevin said the word ‘b*******’ when quoting a union leader, prompting Susanna to gasp in the studio.
The associate editor for the Daily Mirror cut in to say: "One of the European trade union leaders said what you say about minimum standards is ‘b*******’," at which point Susanna stopped him.
The TV presenter quickly apologised to viewers on Kevin’s behalf, as she noted the regulator Ofcom’s rules around swearing before the watershed.
In the studio on Wednesday morning, Richard had similar fears in mind as he stopped Kevin and Andrew, saying: “I’m just going to tell you to shut up, because we’re out of time.”
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on ITV.
