BBC pay: Piers Morgan breaks embargo, claims it was a 'scoop', calls a woman 'petal' then claims he earns £22m a year

Controversial columnist sparks fury after tweeting details of BBC's biggest stars' salaries ahead of official release

Piers Morgan has been roundly condemned by a host of senior media figures after sharing the salaries of the BBC’s highest earners before they were due to be released.

The publicly-funded corporation revealed the pay of all its employees who earn £150,000 or more for the first time ever in its annual report on Wednesday.

The Good Morning Britain presenter capitalised on the anticipation and speculation during the build-up to the announcement by willfully ignoring the embargo of the report, which media publications were given ahead of its official publication.

Morgan, who is also editor-at-large of the US Mail Online, shared a list of high-earning BBC stars on Twitter around an hour before the report was due to be published at 11am.

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He revealed Chris Evans to be the highest-paid BBC star, on more than £2m per year, and that Claudia Winkleman was the highest paid woman - receiving between £450,000 and £499,000.

Morgan, who is famed for his deliberately controversial views, continued sharing details of the report and rebuffed critics by arguing it was a “scoop”.

Janine Gibson, editor in Chief of Buzzfeed UK, wrote: “Well I suppose you may or may not think the BBC News staff are overpaid but at least they understand the word embargo.”

Morgan hit back, saying: “I understand the word ‘scoop’ better.”

Tom Peck, Parliamentary Sketch Writer and Political Correspondent at The Independent, said: “BREAKING: Piers Morgan is a bellend.”

Beth Rigby, senior Sky News political correspondent, weighed in: “Piers Morgan is utterly disgraceful to break embargo when hacks gathered at BBC for press conference and respected lock-in. Shame on him.”

She added: “Morgan breaks an embargo that dozens of journos honour and calls it a scoop. Funny guy. And a bit of a joke.”

But the former The Apprentice contestant fired back: “Oh settle down, petal. I just scooped you. Be better next time.”

Morgan then claimed he earned just over £22 million a year when probed about his own salary.

Alastair Stewart, of ITV News, said: “Breaking an embargo, with stuff we've all been sitting on for hours, is not a 'scoop', it is naff, delusional & unprofessional.”

But Morgan, who has been the editor of the Daily Mirror and News of the World, appeared to relish in mocking the criticism.

“I'd like to apologise to all fellow journalists I scooped on BBC salary story. I can't help being this good at my job, unfortunately,” he said

The salary revelations have sparked fury over the gender pay gap, with Director General Tony Hall being forced to admit the news outlet had a problem - with around two-thirds of the highest earners being male.

Radio presenter Chris Evans topped the list, while d Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker followed closely behind with £1.75m-1.79m.

A representative for Morgan did not immediately respond to request for comment.