Cameron warns against 'gay witch hunt' over 'Tory child abusers' claim
London, Nov. 9 (ANI)
British anchor of ITV's 'This Morning', Phillip Schofield was forced to apologise after he ambushed British Prime Minister David Cameron on live television with a list of alleged Tory paedophiles, compiled from a cursory search on the internet.
Schofield admitted that he had put it together after spending three minutes collecting unsubstantiated gossip online.
"If any viewer was able to identify anyone listed, I would like to apologise and stress that was never my intention. I was not accusing anyone of anything and it is essential that it is understood that I would never be part of any kind of witch-hunt," the Daily Mail quoted Schofield, as saying.
According to the paper, after Cameron was presented with the list, he responded by warning of a 'witch-hunt' that meant prominent people were being wrongly accused of child abuse simply because they were gay.
"Look Phillip, I think this is really important. There is a danger if we are not careful, that this can turn into a sort of witch-hunt, particularly against people who are gay," he said.
"I'm worried about the sort of thing you are doing right now... giving me a list of names you have taken off the internet. Anyone who has any information about anyone who is a paedophile, no matter how high up in British society they are, that is what the police are for," he added
Downing Street later attacked it as a 'silly stunt' and 'trial by Twitter', while MPs warned it could distract from serious allegations of abuse of children being investigated by a string of official inquiries, the paper said.
Schofield also apologized for a 'misjudged camera angle', which meant some of the names could have been seen by viewers.
"Unfortunately there may have been a misjudged camera angle for a split second as I showed the Prime Minister some information I had obtained from the internet. I asked for his reaction to give him the opportunity to make a point which he very clearly made about the dangers of any witch-hunt," he said.