Nadine Dorries claims Phillip Schofield engaged in “intimidating behaviour” and that he once “scared” her.
The former culture secretary described a segment on This Morning in which Holly Willoughby and a “finger-jabbing” Phil questioned her.
Her remarks came after Phil took a leave of absence throughout his brother Timothy Schofield’s legal process, which resulted in his conviction for three years of sexually assaulting a juvenile child.
Instead, Holly presented with people like Joel Dommett and Alison Hammond, which Nadine referred to as a “delight.”
She wrote: ‘What a delight it was to watch the Holly Willoughby and Alison Hammond double act on ITV’s This Morning during Phillip Schofield’s absence from the sofa.
‘I’ve been interviewed by Holly and Phillip several times, and off-camera found Holly an absolute delight and Mr Schofield rather up himself.’
The 65-year-old continued in her Daily Mail column: ‘On one occasion, I witnessed what appeared to be somewhat intimidating behaviour.
‘Holly was away, and as her stand-in looked down at her script — obviously wanting to see who or what was coming up next — Phillip glared at her and began to jab at her script with his finger.’
Nadine didn’t name the stand-in presenter, but added: ‘I don’t know about her, but he scared me.’
Following Phil’s departure from the This Morning couch, there have been rumours that Alison and Holly have pleased ITV executives to the point that they want to collaborate more frequently.
One source spilled: ‘It was a super-clever idea to slot Alison in with Holly, and it worked so well.
‘It was a new dynamic for Holly who has starred with Phil almost every time she has appeared on This Morning for nearly 14 years.‘The bosses are absolutely delighted with their decision to put them together and want to find ways to do it more often.’
They added to the Mail On Sunday that while ‘nobody’s supposed to discuss Phil’s future’ on the programme, it has been hot topic ever since Holly and Alison hosted together.
This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV1.