Photo Piers Morgan timed for ‘maximum embarrassment’

British commentator Piers Morgan recently met with both our PM and Opposition Leader – and he couldn’t resist a gotcha moment to his critics.

British commentator and broadcaster Piers Morgan says he is “amused” by the efforts of both Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition leader Anthony Albanese to deny they are “woke”.

In a wide-ranging interview with Stellar, Morgan – who is famously “anti-woke” and has vowed to “cancel cancel culture” – responded to the recent controversy over The Daily Telegraph’s front-page profile of Anthony Albanese which declared “I AM NOT WOKE” and led both leaders to publicly comment on their stance.

“It’s not for me to say who will win the election as I don’t have a vote to cast,” Morgan told Stellar, “but I was amused to see both men going out of their way to publicly deny being woke.”

Piers Morgan for Stellar magazine. Picture: Damian Bennett

The 57-year-old, who is gearing up for the Australian debut of his new talk show Piers Morgan Uncensored on April 26 on Sky News, says he found both leaders “surprisingly open and candid” after meeting them earlier this year and joked they are both “obviously trying to get into my good books before the show launches” with their seemingly anti-woke commentary.

Morgan says he was equally amused by the response to him meeting privately with the pair.

“Especially when I saw Labor politicians going nuts on Twitter about me seeing Morrison, knowing that I’d also spent the same amount of time with their boss,” he said. “I dropped that little fact after a few hours, for maximum embarrassment impact.

Piers Morgan meets the PM …

… and Anthony Albanese. Picture: Justin Lloyd

“As for the outrage over the Prime Minister sparing so much time to see me when there were more important things for him to be doing, I had 56 one-on-one meetings with Tony Blair when he was UK leader [from 1997 to 2007]. Mr Morrison only got 45 minutes of access to my political expertise … so probably feels short-changed.”

While for many Australians, Morgan’s attacks on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are probably the thing they know best about him, he clarified in the interview that whatever he may think of the couple, their transgressions pale in comparison to those of Harry’s uncle, Prince Andrew.

“To be clear, the Queen’s son paying £10 million [the settlement amount is around $A21 million total] to pay off a woman claiming that he sexually assaulted her, I think, is the worst scandal of modern times for the royal family, and dwarfs any of the antics of Meghan and Harry.”

Piers Morgan on the cover of Stellar. Picture: Damian Bennett

But despite consistently making headlines for his unfiltered, defiantly brash opinions on everything from world affairs to celebrity, Morgan revealed he doesn’t think his views are “controversial”.

“I genuinely don’t think I come at anything from a position where people could say, ‘Well, that’s outrageous.’ And if they do think it is, well, tell me what it is I’ve said that’s outrageous – because I bet you’ve struggled,” he said. “I’m not a right-winger. I’m not a conservative. I’m not a far-left [person]. I’m probably slightly left-of-centre.

“My sensibilities are sort of old-fashioned liberal in the sense [that I believe] in freedom of speech and democracy. I’m not homophobic. I’m not sexist, I believe in fairness and equality for all. I’ve campaigned against racial injustice on television and in print for many years,” he said.

“I should be the darling of the left. But I’m not. I’m their enemy because the left have become so extreme they’ve become the very fascists who they profess to hate most.”

The full interview and shoot can be seen inside today’s The Sunday Telegraph (NSW), Sunday Herald Sun (VIC), The Sunday Mail (QLD) and Sunday Mail (SA).