In defence of Piers Morgan: The ex-Mirror editor has some unlikely champions

Piers Morgan attends a photocall for the new Burger King fragrance 'Flame' at Selfridges on June 15, 2009 in London, England. (Getty Images)

When news first broke of Piers Morgan's threatened deportation, the usually divisive Jeremy Clarkson was on hand to capture the public sentiment in Morgan's home country, tweeting "Americans. It took us 40 years to get rid of Piers Morgan. Pleasse [sic] don't send him back," while a Keep Piers Morgan in the USA petition has attracted 7,209 signatures to date. The reason stated on the petition? "No one in the UK wants him back" Plus: "It will be hilarious to see how loads of angry Americans react."

Last week the ex-Mirror editor and current CNN host, irritated the 73,000 plus signatories of a White House website petition to have him deported by lambasting gun rights activist Larry Pratt, a guest on his show in the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting. "You're an unbelievably stupid man, aren't you?" said Morgan. "You have absolutely no coherent argument. You don't actually give a damn about the gun murder rate in America."

His words have also won him some supporters however. Last night Michal Moore, the left-wing filmmaker and director of the 2002 pro-gun control film Bowling For Columbine tweeted: "Leave Piers alone! So sad that the host on American TV to speak out the loudest against this madness is not one of us, but a Brit."