Piers Morgan denies letting Donald Trump 'off the hook' in interviews

Piers Morgan has denied being more lenient than usual with US President Donald Trump in interviews.

Speaking at the Royal Television Society’s conference in Cambridge, Morgan said: “I would say, look at the last one we did in the Churchill War Rooms.

“I did 35 minutes with him, roughed him up on about four or five things, including the transgender ban in the military. I took him to task on that. Took him to task on guns again. Took him to task on other things.”

He added: “I compare it to any interview he gives to any of the American networks. I appreciate that he doesn’t do many outside of the family – Fox and so on – but he does do quite a few.

“I think [my interviews] are certainly as combative as any of those that I have ever seen.

“There is a limit to what you can do with a serving president with the secret service in the room. You go too hard and it is the last interview you ever do.”

Morgan met the President in 2008 when he appeared as a competitor on the celebrity version of The Apprentice in the US, which he went on to win.

He said being friends with President Trump actually benefited him with the interview him because their familiarity helped Morgan cut through what he described as “just chat”

He said: “Plus, with Trump I have a unique relationship with him. It came about because I won Celebrity Apprentice in 2008. That’s when I got to know him.

“I spent three hours with him every night for six weeks and he was nowhere near as terrifying in that environment than he seems to some people as president.

“A lot of it is just chat. You would soon learn that about Trump if you knew him.”

Morgan was in conversation with Loose Women star Christine Lampard on the second day of the three-day RTS Cambridge Conference.