PHILLIP Schofield has denied he groomed his young lover and assistant Mathew McGreevy, despite meeting him at a theatre school when he was a teenager.

The former ITV presenter, 61 said he has “massive guilt” over his affair – first exposed by Politicalite.com in 2020 with a younger male colleague in an interview with the BBC that is available to stream on the BBC iPlayer from 6am BST. 

He told the BBC’s Amol Rajan on Thursday when asked about how he was first photographed in the same image with, and followed his what he says was his “future partner” on Twitter, when he was a teen: “It was a completely innocent backwards and forwards about a job – what is wrong with that?”

In his tell the other-half to The Sun, journalist Clemmie Moodie said the presenter was visibly shaking and “furiously vaping” during the interview, Phillip said: “I did not, I did not (groom him.) –

Schofield is a savvy media operator and knows how to play the game and the victim. 

Look how he gave an interview the the BBC – knowing it would play out all day long – AND to The Sun – the UK’s biggest newspaper and online news website. He approached both media outlets and in The Sun’s article he is sat on a sofa – just like he appeared on This Morning, he craves the limelight and the media attention, just like Norma Desmond in the final scene of the classic Hollywood satire, Sunset Boulevard. This was Phil’s final scene and he was ready for his close up.

He has now used two interviews – with the BBC (workplace of Jimmy Savile) and The Sun – to stress he did not groom his lover – but social media users have compared his body language and use of a vape – popular with teenagers – to distract from the grooming claims – similar to that of the infamous BBC beast. 

One documentary which focussed on the beast – Faking It: Jimmy Savile – examined his body language and how he once gave away his shocking secret.

One expert explained: “He’s [Savile] hiding in plain sight, the audience are thinking that this is all part of a showmanship and actually he’s telling us about things that are true – lots of girls at that point who would have been his victims were fearful of him.”

When he was questioned about the allegations by Andrew Neil, Immediately, in an obvious bid to divert attention and halt the probing, he took out a banana and began eating it. 

Politicalite would like to stress that we are not accusing or implying Mr Schofield is that sort of man , but it’s important to note the similarities, given the claims on social media. 

SEEDY SCHOFE ON HOW ‘AFFAIR’ BEGAN

“There are accusations of all sorts of things. It never came across that way (an abuse of power) because we’d become mates. I don’t know about that. 

“But of course I understand that there will be a massive judgment, but bearing in mind, I have never exercised that anywhere else. 

Schofield told the Sun that his first romantic encounter with the man was in his dressing room at ITV.

“It was a consensual moment, it was mutual,” he said. “It was not a love affair, it was not a relationship, we were not boyfriends; we were mates.”

“Over a period of time it happened maybe five or six times. We just didn’t think anyone knew, there was no lying, we thought, stupidly, that nobody knew.”

He added: “You look at yourself, and I absolutely know there is no question I did a bad thing. I was unprofessional, one time, in a 41-year career.

“I know I did that. And there is no excuse. I don’t have an excuse. I won’t put forward an excuse. No-one did anything wrong apart from me.”

“I assume somebody, somewhere, assumed something was going on, correctly, and didn’t say anything. 

“At the time I did not think about it possibly ruining my career. I really probably only thought about it when I saw the rumour mill, and saw it growing. 

“Then I saw the link with the drama school photo all those years before, and thought, ‘This looks shocking.’ 

“But I didn’t lie to protect my career, he didn’t want his name in public. He wanted his own life. 

“The lies grew bigger and bigger and bigger and it was affecting both of us deeply. 

“It got to the stage where it was out of control and for whatever cost, it had to stop. 

“I have massive guilt, and regret. I’ve made a mistake, I’ve had an affair at work.” 

It has been confirmed that ITV boss Dame Carolyn McCall has been summoned to Parliament to be questioned on safeguarding, with the Culture, Media and Sport Committee wanting to quiz her next week.

Phillip added in his interview with The Sun that some rumours online about his affair are false.

He insisted his former boyfriend did not receive a penny in “hush” money to cover up their affair and said no non-disclosure agreement had been signed that would stop the man from speaking out.