Eamonn Holmes slams free school meals and explains Huw Edwards friendship

Eamonn Holmes has slammed the provision of free school meals and opened up about his friendship with disgraced newsreader Huw Edwards. Condemning the benefits system, he said: “I was very much brought up in a poor family. Do I remember benefits? No. Do I remember going to school with no breakfast? I don’t see why it is my responsibility to feed your kids at school. The government keeps saying they have 500 new places for breakfast at school, but why is that my problem? I don't see why it is.”

Condemning parents for not taking responsibility for their children, he added: “I speak to teachers who say some kids are not toilet trained or can't use knives and forks, but what kind of parents are these people? I present the news every day and it makes me very angry what we fight for in this country. I don’t think we, as a country, can be responsible for the whole world’s problems.”

• Ruth Langsford reveals 'most difficult' celebrities to interview after Loose Women U-turn

The GB News breakfast show presenter also expresses his shock at the fall from grace of former BBC news anchor Huw Edwards, who was given a six month jail sentence, suspended for two years, at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in September 2024 for possessing indecent images of children. He said: “Huw Edwards? I knew him very very well and was going to meet him the week after he was arrested. Did I suspect anything was wrong with him? No.”

Eamonn, 66, who now uses a wheelchair due to chronic back issues, was speaking to TV presenter Hayley Palmer at a live audience event at London’s Hippodrome Casino. He hit back at reports claiming he fell asleep while presenting his GB News breakfast show, saying he was examining faulty equipment. He said: “I was just looking down at my mic pack to see why it was not working, as we don't have floor managers or camera operators. Apparently I was sleeping? Whatever!”

Father-of-four Eamonn also revealed how he had healed a hate-filled rift with Anthea Turner - his co-host on the GMTV breakfast show from 1994 to 1996. He said: “I am now best friends with Anthea Turner. There used to be real hatred between us and then I realised that Anthea was playing a part that she has been told to do. She has been very successful at it. I spoke to her tonight before I came here.”

He is less forgiving of singer Mariah Carey, who he once refused to interview. He said: “I have interviewed her a number of times and she is always a complete pain in the a**. “ Recalling one particular interview, he said: “She comes in and lays down on a chaise lounge. I was told Miss Carey was very tired, as she had been up from 9am. I had been up from 4am. So I lay down beside her. Someone said ‘what are you doing?’ There were eruptions.

“I said ‘there is only one way this interview is happening. We either both lay down or we both sit up. I was told Miss Carey would not be sitting up and I said ‘well, Mr Holmes won't be doing the interview.’ I took off and left.”

Experiencing the world differently as a wheelchair user, Eamonn wants to see better access for disabled people. He said: “If you are in a wheelchair you are either at the front of the cinema or the back. Why can't you be in the middle?

“The thing that makes me laugh is rooms that are classed as accessible in hotels. They are not at all. Everything is wrong, the bathrooms and the showers. I would love to advise hotel people as they are no use to anybody.”

The TV presenter, who split from his wife-of-14-years, Ruth Langsford, 66, who was his partner for 27 years, in May 2024, is also critical of standards on TV. He said: “I see people on television and have no talent whatsoever. I don't find it funny and you see some useless person who can't read, write or get a joke out. It is incredible.”

He says meagre budgets mean TV standards are slipping, making programmes like ITV’s This Morning unaffordable. Now in a relationship with counsellor Katie Alexander, 43, Eamonn, who lives in a penthouse apartment in Kingston, south west London, said: “It is a great pity. If you can't justify the audience then it's over.

“ITV will be the next one down the tubes. It will be sold to an American company and they will make it a streaming company.” Of his GB News role, he added: “I am not proud of anything. I do my job. I enjoy what I do, but I don't sit and beat my chest about how brilliant it is.”

Eamonn also criticised the state of UK politics. He said: “I think our political system in this country is screwed. I have got a lot of admiration for people who go into politics but the system corrupts them.”

• Eamonn Holmes tells real story of falling asleep on air and 'hatred' for Anthea Turner