[25] His father died when Morgan was 11 months old; his mother later married Glynne Pughe-Morgan,[28][29] a Welsh pub landlord who later worked in the meat distribution business, and he took his stepfather's surname.

He told Hunter Davies in December 1994 that he was personally recruited by Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie to work on the newspaper's show business column "Bizarre", his first high-profile post.

"I became the Friend of the Stars, a rampant egomaniac, pictured all the time with famous people – Madonna, Stallone, Bowie, Paul McCartney, hundreds of them.

[32] Morgan left this post in 1995 shortly after publishing photographs of Catherine Victoria Lockwood, then wife of Charles, Earl Spencer, leaving an addictive disorders clinic in Surrey.

It asserts he was an admirer of former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher for most of her period of office, making the appointment surprising as the Mirror is a Labour-supporting title.

Roy Greenslade wrote in August 1999 that Morgan's editorship "has made a huge difference: his enormous enthusiasm, determination and focus is a major plus".

The "City Slickers" columnists, Anil Bhoyrul and James Hipwell, were both found to have committed further breaches of the Code and were sacked before the inquiry concluded.

[49] The Mirror attempted to move mid-market in 2002, eschewing the more trivial stories of show-business and gossip, and appointed Christopher Hitchens as a columnist, but sales declined.

[30][50] In October 2003, journalist and television personality Jeremy Clarkson emptied a glass of water over Morgan during the last flight of Concorde in response to some photographs published in the Mirror.

Morgan was critical of the judgement saying it was "a good day for lying, drug-abusing prima donnas who want to have their cake with the media and the right to then shamelessly guzzle with their Cristal champagne.

Despite staff initially expressing enthusiasm for the story it did not appear in the paper, although it did subsequently feature in a South Wales Argus article and on BBC Radio 5 Live in October 1999.

[61] In July 2011, in a sequence of articles, political blogger Paul Staines alleged that while editor of the Daily Mirror in 2002 Morgan published a story concerning the affair of Sven-Göran Eriksson and Ulrika Jonsson while knowing it to have been obtained by phone hacking.

[63] While he said he had no reason to believe that phone hacking had occurred at the Mirror while he was in charge there, he admitted to hearing a recording of an answerphone message left by Paul McCartney for Heather Mills, but refused to "discuss where that tape was played or who made [it] – it would compromise a source.

"[63] Appearing as a witness at the same Inquiry on 9 February 2012, Mills was asked under oath if she had ever made a recording of McCartney's phone call or had played it to Morgan; she replied: "Never".

He recalled a lunch with the Mirror editor in September 2002 at which Morgan outlined the means of hacking [or accessing] a mobile phone voicemail, using the SIM card network's default security code.

He stated: "[The] evidence does not establish that [Morgan] authorised the hacking of voicemails or that journalists employed by TMG [Trinity Mirror Group] were indulging in this practice ... What it does, however, clearly prove is that he was aware that it was taking place in the press as a whole and that he was sufficiently unembarrassed by what was criminal behaviour that he was prepared to joke about it.

"[10][69] On 6 December 2013, Morgan was interviewed, under caution, by police officers from Operation Weeting investigating phone hacking allegations at Mirror Group Newspapers during his tenure as editor.

[74][75][76] On 15 December 2023, Harry was awarded £140,600 by the High Court in damages against MGN, after 15 out of 33 sample articles about him in his claim were ruled as being the product of phone hacking or other unlawful information gathering.

[85][86][87] As a result of the judge's ruling, the pressure group Hacked Off called for the police to open an investigation into possible perjury committed by senior staff members at The Mirror, during the Leveson Inquiry.

He presented a three-part television documentary series for the BBC titled The Importance of Being Famous (2003), about fame and the manner in which celebrities are covered by modern media.

[115] Commenting on the viewing figures, Morgan said that he was "a British guy debating American cultural issues, including guns, which has been very polarizing, and there is no doubt that there are many in the audience who are tired of me banging on about it.

"[116] From 13 to 17 April 2015, Morgan guest-hosted five episodes of Good Morning Britain on ITV and became a permanent co-host in November 2015, appearing alongside Susanna Reid and Charlotte Hawkins.

[118] Morgan left the series in March 2021 following a controversy over his remarks about Oprah with Meghan and Harry, which included a heated on-air argument with Alex Beresford.

He was eventually the overall winner, being named Celebrity Apprentice by host Donald Trump on 27 March, ahead of fellow finalist, American country music star Trace Adkins,[122][123] and having raised substantially more cash than all the other contestants combined.

[131] After the novelist J. K. Rowling tweeted "Yes, watching Piers Morgan being told to fuck off on live TV is *exactly* as satisfying as I'd always imagined", the two began an exchange of words on the social media site.

Trump responded by attacking both DeSantis and Morgan where he said “Ron DeSanctimonious is not working for the people of Florida as he should be, he is too busy chatting with a Ratings Challenged TV Host from England”.

[159] Actor and comedian Steve Coogan, a prominent supporter of press regulation, described Morgan as "symptomatic of the problem" with the British tabloid media and accused him of "bullying behaviour" regarding his attitude to the Duchess.

[166] After receiving 41,015 complaints, Ofcom launched an investigation on 9 March 2021 into the remarks Morgan made about the Duchess of Sussex's mental health on Good Morning Britain.

[citation needed] The Huffington Post reported that "before the interview was scheduled, it was made clear that Grammer would answer all questions, including those about [his ex-wife].

"[176] On 4 February 2014, transgender advocate Janet Mock appeared as a guest on Piers Morgan Live to discuss her memoir, Redefining Realness.