Sign up to FREE email alerts from Mirror - celebs Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Stanley Johnson has vowed to defy his own son's official guidance about coping with the coronavirus pandemic despite being in one of the most at-risk groups.

The 79-year-old former politician and I'm A Celebrity star told This Morning's Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby that he wouldn't stay indoors.

His defiant vow came just hours after his prime minister son Boris Johnson urging people to stay away from pubs, clubs, restaurants and theatres, especially if they are aged over 70, pregnant or have a chronic health condition.

"Stanley, you are in a high-risk group so therefore this morning you wanted to come in today, we gave you the opportunity to do that," host Phillip told him.

(Image: ITV)



"We've got the two-metre separation here, you've got your own room this morning."

"I've never turned down an invitation from you. Thrilled to have my own room," said Stanley.

"We just wanted to point out that you really wanted to be here," Phillip drove home.

He, Holly and Vanessa Feltz then discussed the most recent government advice about social distancing for the next 12 weeks, in an attempt to 'flatten the curve' of the outbreak and therefore allow the already overstretched NHS to cope over a longer period of time.



"I look at the big picture here, if I may say so, and the big picture is that we are going to get on top of this, we're going to make sure that the National Health Service is not overwhelmed in terms of people who need intensive care," said Stanley.

(Image: ITV)



"Look what's happened, the fact the prime minister made the speech yesterday, has already had an effect on emptying the streets, emptying the pubs, emptying the theatres.



"And yes, the government will come through with a package of measures to compensate those people, I'm sure he will. This afternoon the chancellor will say something. So I think we're on the right track," he went on.



Phillip interjected to challenge him on his assurance, as neither the prime minister nor chancellor Rishi Sunak have yet announced a raft of measures to protect the economy and ensure jobs are not lost as a result of the coronavirus.



"I would expect you to say that, but until something does come through - and as you know there's many political promises made that necessarily end up with good foundations - that there will be people who own pubs and restaurants who will be terrified now, people on minimum wage who now have no job and maybe they're a one-parent family. It has this massive knock-on area for some people who will be terrified," Phillip pointed out.



(Image: REUTERS)



Stanley hit back: "Look at what [French president] Mr Macron has said, he's said we will make sure that people do not have to bear the brunt themselves, and I think we will go down that route ourselves."



"Will you go to a pub tonight?" Phillip asked the septuagenarian.



"Of course I'll go to a pub if I need to go to a pub," Stanley blustered.



"What do you think your son's going to say to that - he's just told you not to?"



"No, he said we should avoid going to pubs, but if I had to go to a pub, I'd go," Stanley vowed.

(Image: ITV)



"But nobody has to go to a pub!" Vanessa shouted.



"Well, because the people who run pubs need a little bit of people - they don't want people to not be in the pub at all. That's my line," Stanley waffled.



Viewers were shocked to hear the prime minister's own father so blasély reject the government's advice, and took to Twitter to call him out.



"Stanley Johnson there ignoring all the advice his son (the Prime Minister) has given on live Tv and completely undermining him. Babbling absolute madness on This Morning. If I was Boris I'd be seething," one wrote.



Another said: "Please cut Stanley Johnson's microphone, he's now spouting dangerous rubbish. Why is the PM's elderly unqualified father on TV anyway? This is deranged."



A third tweeted: "Stanley Johnson says not ALL over 70s are vulnerable because he can climb mountains. He's basically contradicted everything his PM son has said."

emmeline

And a fourth slammed This Morning for giving him a platform, saying: "That performance by Stanley Johnson was irresponsible ,selfish and completely inappropriate. It is this kind of attitude which will make this terrible situation even worse."

*This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV