“Everyone now gets the power of YouTube,” Morgan said, pointing to the appeal of his channel to world leaders who have appeared on his show such as Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu. “You can do an interview with conventional TV but where are you going to get that kind of audience? It is the future.”

January was ushered in with typical calm and restraint on Piers Morgan Uncensored, the YouTube channel, talk show and self-described “global arena for fearless debate, bold opinions and major interviews”.

The outspoken broadcaster's production company is to take ownership of his Uncensored YouTube channel as part of a deal that will see it enter a four-year revenue-sharing agreement with Rupert Murdoch's UK subsidiary,