To Piers Morgan’s credit, he’s considerably less obnoxious in person than his Twitter feed, an insatiable stream of slander against so-called ‘snowflakes’, would suggest. Morgan, who used to edit News of the World and The Daily Mirror and who now co-hosts ITV’s Good Morning Britain, while also managing to fit in a plethora of notorious personal feuds with public figures including Jeremy Clarkson and Ian Hislop, is no stranger to controversy.

Our interview gets off to a rocky start with Morgan scoffing when I inform him that I’m a journalist from Varsity. Sarcastically, he explains: “Varsity – I love it. The moment I was announced [they said] it’s the most disgusting thing they’ve ever heard. Congratulations!” The article in reference is one that categorises both Morgan and Katie Hopkins, who spoke at the Union earlier this week, as deliberately controversial speakers who have little to offer the free debate that the Union claims to promote.

Indeed, this comparison to Hopkins is something of a sensitive issue for Morgan. Despite the two being fellow columnists at The Daily Mail, Morgan doesn’t take well to further parallels being drawn. “In terms of politics we couldn’t be further apart,” Morgan retorts.

“The only thing we have in common is that we’re both from The Daily Mail.” He continues, nevertheless going on to offer a second commonality: “one thing we are agreed on is political correctness stifling all life. I’m particularly worried about young people who are at colleges; at Berkeley College they’re banning anyone who isn’t a left-wing speaker. They’re protesting, marching and throwing firebombs. What has happened to free speech? I may not like what Katie Hopkins writes half the time, but I absolutely respect her right to say it. If she says it within the law of the land then nobody should be marching to stop her saying it or trying to silence her. Argue with her!”.

I probe Morgan further on the topic of political correctness, asking him about a tweet that he issued earlier that day, praising Prince Philip for being “PC-averse”. Curious about how he can so despise a social mechanism that seeks to facilitate a more tolerant, inclusive and accepting society, I ask Morgan to clarify.

“But I do think that the PC environment we’re now having to live in has become completely ridiculous”

Piers Morgan

“I don’t like racism, I don’t like homophobia, I don’t like overt sexism and stuff like that. But I do think that the PC environment we’re now having to live in has become completely ridiculous. When I hear that there are universities in this country (there’s one in Cardiff) that wants to ban the word ‘mankind’ because it might upset women – get a life! This is utter ridiculousness and that’s what I’m talking about. I just think we’ve got to a stage where everyone is walking on eggshells, desperate not to offend anybody. You can just be offended – it’s part of democracy and free speech – it’s okay.”

Not wanting to waste the opportunity to ask Donald Trump’s only friend about their budding relationship, and having noticed Morgan’s twitter display picture of the two candidly grinning, with Trump’s infamous-sized hands resting on Morgan’s shoulder, I inquire as to how their friendship has weathered the numerous allegations of sexual misconduct that Trump faces, including a video of him confessing to lurid instances of sexual assault.

“There’s lots of allegations of sexual misconduct, there were quite a few against Bill Clinton, who’s one of the most revered presidents in the history of the United States, closely followed by John F. Kennedy. I’m not going to get on my high moral horse about Trump, I’ve not seen him behave like that, I’ve never heard him behave like that. I’ve spent hundreds of hours in his company and I’ve always found him respectful around women. I’ve always found the women around him to be strong independent women, from Ivanka to Melania. I’ve not seen that side of him at all. I was as shocked as anybody when that tape came out, I found it as distasteful as everybody else did.”

Morgan tells me that he finds it “very easy” to have a friend with whom he disagrees politically and that “I always divorce friendships from politics.” Intriguingly, Morgan even tells me that “I’ve got people in my family who are far more right-wing than Donald Trump and I get on absolutely great with them.” Leaving me to sombrely ponder the conversational topics of Morgan family events, he launches into another commentary on democratic participation.

“I’ve seen people completely lose their mind over Brexit here, and Trump in America, and unfriend people on Facebook and go hysterical on Twitter, abusing everybody that doesn’t agree with them. You can’t do that. The point of a democracy is to be democratic and to accept the result of democratic elections, not to lie about screaming and shouting.”

Piers Morgan and Katie Hopkins at the Union: not only offensive, but utterly predictable

Morgan doesn’t exclusively opine on matters in the US, but also on issues closer to home, stating that the local election results in the UK showed that “UKIP is over.” And that “the Tories are going to win by a massive landslide, unless something extraordinary happens. Theresa May will win with a thumping majority which will give her the power she needs in Parliament to avoid twenty or thirty of her own rebel MPs causing her lots of problems in the negotiation period with Brexit.”

On the state of Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party, Morgan is damning: “Labour have obviously got train wreck problems right now. I think it was the first time an opposition, three times consecutively in local elections, have gone down in their support. It’s just unprecedented.” Morgan avoids an overtly personal political preference but goes as far as saying that “It seems to me Theresa May’s position is the most electable position to have – and I voted remain” concluding that the forthcoming general election “is going to be a bloodbath”