Piers Morgan slams Nicola Sturgeon for praising chief medical officer Catherine Calderwood who broke coronavirus lockdown rules

Piers Morgan has hit out at Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon after she praised the hard work of Catherine Calderwood, the Scottish chief medical officer who resigned on Sunday after breaching coronavirus lockdown rules.

Ms Sturgeon was speaking about Scotland's response to coronavirus on ITV's Good Morning Britain when Mr Morgan asked her about Ms Calderwood, who left her post after it emerged on Sunday she had visited her second home two weekends in a row.

Ms Sturgeon said she wasn't defending Ms Calderwood's actions, but said she had initially wanted the former chief medical officer to keep her job because of her good work so far.

But Mr Morgan interrupted her, saying: “You know what, I don’t want to hear it, with respect, honestly to you.

“I have great respect for you and I don’t blame you for this, because we all assume you didn’t know anything about this and I take your word for that.”

Mr Morgan continued: “But honestly, continuing to tell me what a great hard worker she was... the damage she’s done is potentially incalculable.

"We don't know what damage she's done by flying completely against exactly what she was told to do."

Ms Calderwood apologised for her actions on Sunday, saying there were "no excuses" for breaking coronavirus quarantine rules.

Mr Morgan called her behaviour "dangerous" on Monday, adding: "Consecutive weekends, jollies off 40 miles to her second home in flagrant disregard of everything she was saying."

And Ms Sturgeon said Ms Calderwood resigned on Sunday after it became clear that could not continue as the "public face" of Scotland's coronavirus response.

This is not the first time Mr Morgan has asked politicians pointed questions on coronavirus, after he criticised housing minister Robert Jenrick for not explaining why the UK was behind other countries in coronavirus testing.