Kate Garraway has said her 'personal friendship' with Piers Morgan 'will go on' after his abrupt Good Morning Britain exit.
The presenter was back on the ITV show on Thursday alongside Ben Shephard as Susanna Reid missed her usual slot on the show.
It is the first time Kate and Ben have been back on screen since their former co-star's decision to quit GMB was announced on Tuesday evening.
Ben started by saying: "Not a lot going on. Obviously there’s been a lot of headlines this week centred around this programme, centred around one of our colleagues, Piers."
Turning to Kate, he added: "You were friends with him before? And I know he’s been very supportive to you and the family with everything you're going through with Derek."
Kate, 53, said in response: "That's the thing about Piers, he is very passionate, he does fly kites and have debates but it always come from a place of authenticity, he always believes in what he says.
"And he's left, he's decided to quit and has he put it himself, 'fallen on his sword of free speech', but as you rightly say, I've known him a long time before this programme, our friendship will go on, our personal friendship, and he's been very supportive of me personally.
"It’s a different show but the show goes on," she added.
Dr Hilary Jones also joined them in the studio and offered his support to Piers.
"I had my spats with Piers, he took politicians to account, he probed, pushed and I think he did champion the little people, the people who had no voice," he said.
"Of course he had polarising opinions… people often shout louder when they’re criticising."
But he also added that he had "a very generous heart," to which Kate added: "He still has Hilary! He’s still here, he's just not in the studio."
