Piers Morgan and Afua Hirsch got into a heated debate over Winston Churchill’s status as a British historical hero.
The Good Morning Britain host slammed Ms Hirsch’s attempts to “besmirch” Churchill with claims suggesting the former PM was racist.
Mr Morgan said: “The problem is that you take national heroes who have done extraordinary things for this country and you pick holes and you try to besmirch them and disparage their reputation. Why?
“You know what? Beating Adolf Hitler, winning the war, stopping him exterminating every Jew he could get his hands on, these to me are far greater achievements than the negatives that lurk in his past, which lurk in anybody’s past.”
The exchange became increasingly heated, with Mr Morgan challenging the British writer to name one British hero she has “complete respect for”.
But Ms Hirsch struggled to name someone, claiming she was not “comfortable with the concept of hero”.
He continued: “Who do you respect? Which national British hero – you are British, you said – do you actually have complete respect for? Name one.
“You don’t have anybody you can point to? You can’t name a single person in British history you deem to be heroic.”
Ms Hirsch hit back at the GMB host arguing she found Winston Churchill’s flaws more fascinating than the “propagandistic version of history”.
She said: “I am not comfortable with the idea of heroes. The concept of hero is unhelpful
“I am a British person, I think a fundamental British value is integrity and intellectual curiosity and I can’t understand why we as a modern nation in 2018 are only comfortable with the propagandist version of history.
“Why can’t we have a more interesting relationship with history? Churchill was far more fascinating than the cardboard cutout saint that we paint him to be. He was a deeply flawed man.”
