When the PM and Piers Morgan strike a £1,000 TV bet about desperate human lives, whom do you abhor the most? | Gavin Esler

No wonder Sunak today seeks to extricate himself. None of the world leaders I have interviewed would have behaved this way

For Piers Morgan the most important thing in a Piers Morgan interview is the fact that Piers Morgan is doing it. He is the TV equivalent of the Bette Midler character in the movie Beaches. She finally stops talking about herself and says: But enough about me. Let's talk about you. What do you think of me?"

That's comedy. Piers Morgan is real life, or what passes for real life in sections of the British media. But what is bizarre is that the prime minister of the United Kingdom - the prime minister! - willingly plays along as the foil to Piers Morgan on an obscure television channel for which Morgan is likely to be paid more in pounds than there are viewers.

Gavin Esler is the author most recently of Britain Is Better Than This

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