Piers Morgan blasts 'snivelling toady' David Walliams for liking 'nastiest tweets' about him

Piers Morgan has hit out at David Walliams after the author liked a tweet criticising the presenter.

It comes after a petition was launched against Morgan, calling for him to be taken off Good Morning Britain after claims of transphobia were levied against him.

A counter-petition was launched, leading Walliams to “like” a Twitter post slamming the notion of "saving Piers" which referenced the fake photos of British troops torturing Iraqi prisoners which saw Morgan sacked as the editor of the Daily Mirror in 2004.

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The original tweet read: "Just a reminder that @piersmorgan released fake photos of torture in Iraq that endangered the lives of British soldiers, refused to apologise and rightfully got sacked. He's also a big fan of phone hacking and still sees no wrong in this. So no, don't #SavePiers, #F***Piers."

Morgan went on to post a screenshot of Walliams' "like", berating him for doing so while including a jibe at Britain's Got Talent's viewing figures, where Morgan previously presided as a judge.

"Amusing that ⁦@davidwalliams regularly ‘likes’ the nastiest tweets about me, yet is such a snivelling toady to my face. It’s not my fault ⁦@BGT ratings were so much higher when I was in your chair Dave!"

Following on from Morgan's complaint, Walliams' former comedy partner Matt Lucas chimed in to defend his friend.

He tweeted: "Purely objectively - 1) He was probably being polite. Some people are. 2) Boasting about the BGT ratings and popularity when you were briefly on it to someone who has not only transformed the show but is consistently the biggest-selling author in the country didn't work."

Morgan hit back to brand Walliams as "cowardly" before alleging that Britain's Got Talent's audience fell after his departure.

"Hi Matt, I don’t think it’s ‘polite’ to be friendly to people in person but poisonous behind their back - it’s cowardly. As for BGT, I was very proudly on it for the first 4 years when ratings topped 20 million. They’re now half that. Not a boast, just a fact," he shared.

However, Lucas simply replied: "Go to bed."

"Fight your own battles. You certainly fought one with him long enough," Morgan responded, referencing Walliams and Lucas' strained relationship which led their professional partnership to come to an end in 2011.

Good Morning Britain made light of calls to fire Morgan from the programme as they ran their own poll to let viewers have their say.

However, it appeared to backfire on Morgan when the final result saw 60 percent of participants voted for him to "go" from the show over his views on gender.

Yahoo has contacted David Walliams, Matt Lucas and Piers Morgan for response.