There we go Schofield has admitted ‘affair’

[muppetmayhem]

Front page of the daily mail for my sins.

He's always come across to me as an absolute creep, so that would be no surprise.

@Ulookgood

That's what happened with President Macron. His wife was his teacher when he was 12/13. But they have had a relationship and went on to marry and no one has ever said a nasty thing about her. Why such double standard?

Eh?! 'No one has ever said a nasty thing about her'? Loads of people have quite rightly said how disgusting and creepy they find it and how much they judge her for it!

They’ve known each other since he was 12 - and then had a relationship when he was of a legal age (yuck). This incredibly powerful man had an affair with someone almost 40 years younger. Whichever way you look at it it is an abuse of power and exploitative.

No it seems he lawyered up and fucked himself over rather than bean spilling actually happening. So there may not be a tell all.

Sounds like he tried to make complaints about newspaper articles in order to protect his reputation. These stories hinted at the runner being unfairly treated rather than going any further. So he went to the press complaints to get the story blocked on his and his exs behalf.

Only for his ex to go 'i'm not going to continue to lie to cover up for you and to protect your reputation cos I'm sick of doing so'.

So Scofield had to drop the complaint. And effectively was busted because he couldn't follow through. Leaving the media free to report concerns about how the runner had been strangely shunted sideways after a falling out with Schofield (no need to talk about the relationship - this still looks like Schofield throwing his weight around the This Morning set and not being very nice to colleagues)

This also meant his deal with ITV was screwed because ITV could legitimately refuse to payout as the payout was linked to fulfilling his contact. However if they can argue breech of contract, they don't have to. Lying to senior management would almost certainly amount to gross misconduct (even if they did an investigation and cleared his relationship as fine).

So Schofield was left hanging and in the position where he either had to let it come out in the newspapers or he could do a damage limitation 'confession' to try and lessen the impact. At this point the chances of it becoming apparent there was a relationship being in the media were already pretty much zilch.

Schofield may have not had the same level of issue if he'd not lawyered up. The aggressive legal approach is what's done for him. And he's been caught out trying to lie with a lawyer backing him up. That's throwing your weight around. It's abuse of power through having the financial means to do this. That's not the actions of a man who is nice. It screws his reputation on numerous levels.

The paedo or grooming allegations don't need to be demonstrated to be true at this point. His career is damned. He's no longer credible as being trustworthy and his brothers conviction in the context of his own actions make him look worse in PR terms. Which may not be entirely fair but it's a mess of his own making because his judgement calls have been so dire.

MM's timeline is (currently) on LinkedIn

Production Secretary- This Morning Apr 2017 - Apr 2019

Studio Runner- This Morning Apr 2016 - Apr 2018

Presenters Runner- Dancing On Ice Jan 2016 - Jan 2019

Talent Liaison - This Morning Live May 2016 - May 2018

So it looks like his earliest gig with PS was on Dancing With Ice in Jan 2016 when he would be 19 or 20.

And he was booted off This Morning in April 2019

Wondering.. if Philip Schofield is being cancelled like this for grooming a child why was Cheryl Cole not considering she met Liam Payne when he was 14 and she was his mentor and then they went on to have a baby and a relationship? Both parties met the other as a child and once legal had relationships with them. I find both creepy but it seems one is more accepted?

Nadine Dorries putting the boot in on BBC

There's no comparison to Cheryl Cole - they didn't get together when he was 14 & the age gap isn't that big.

When Phil resigned from this morning he said it was 'to protect the show he loves' . Then he spouted further crap about protecting the identity of the young person.

What a load of bollocks. It's all been a desperate attempt to protect himself . The arrogance of the man believing he could pay and/or use his influence to keep this all under wraps.

He deserves all that's coming to him.

She didn’t get him a job as her personal runner and she wasn’t in a position of power over him was she?

Totally different.

Because there is no suggestion that Cole groomed Payne while people are discussing the exact details of Schofield's behaviour and how while it might seem unsavoury, that does not mean it was necessarily illegal.

It's not a great look for Cheryl.

However she's not lied, nor thrown her weight around resulting in the ill treatment of others at the expense of their careers (multiple people). She's not lawyered up to block media stories from reporting the truth. She's not lawyered up to (attempt to fraudulently) argue about reputation damage in order to get contractual obligations met. Nor done a huge thing about how stunning and brave they are for coming out (which might just have been a damage limitation exercise in itself in order to cover up a relationship). Nor has she under oath admitted to knowing her brother was a paedo but only wetly said 'dont do it again' rather than report it (remembering he didn't condemn his brother until AFTER the verdict was given).

There's lots of other problems with Schofield's actions. It's not JUST the relationship itself. It's how he's dealt with it subsequently.

It's about multiple abuses of power. Not just potential grooming.

'It's not illegal' seems to be the defense Phil is running with

Got it in one RedToothBrush

I agree @RedToothBrush

She also wasn’t in a long term marriage at the time she started her relationship with a younger man.

I think Cheryl’s is guilty of having very poor judgement when it comes to her personal life but she’s not a predator

Agree with you but no need for the "fat, old , Karen" tropes.

And I'm disgusted at the misogyny and ageism in your post.

If that's your defence it's pretty lame.

Remember that if he HAD got his payout from ITV in line with contractual obligations would that be fraud as he had only got that because they had to make a legal settlement with him over the contract and because of the risk of potential damage to his career/reputation.

If he was found to be in breach of contract for gross misconduct (which could be for either going against organisational policy for an inappropriate relationship OR for lying to senior management) and this came to light afterwards, what would have happened?

Would ITV be able to go after him legally to reclaim the money? Would it be classed as fraud?

How about the attempt to lie to the press complaints? With a lawyer? Would he have gone to court and lied under oath if things had got that far?

These questions remain relevant because that's the abuse of power bit. And could easily have gone into dubious legal footings because the lies kept getting bigger and bigger.

Blind items do say Cheryl had a baby out of convenience though as men aren't her thing. Liam always did seem besotted

@LetterForLettis where is the information about his relationship with an autistic young man?

What's this muppet done now?

Agree - and when that's your best shot in circumstances like this, you're screwed.

Absolutely @SamW98 - I've no idea why her name is even mentioned on this thread?!