Profile: Piers Morgan

Piers Morgan was the youngest national daily newspaper editor when he started at The Mirror

As the row over allegations that UK troops abused Iraqi prisoners grows, BBC News Online looks at the career of tabloid editor Piers Morgan, whose paper broke the story.

Piers Morgan is the best-known national newspaper editor since The Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie. And guess what? They're good friends.

He took over as editor of the News of the World when he was 28, becoming the youngest national newspaper editor for more than 50 years.

Two years later, he was head-hunted to edit the Daily Mirror. Even now, he is not yet 40.

Born in 1965 in an East Sussex village, Piers Stefan Pughe-Morgan was youngest of four and the son of a meat distribution executive.

He was named after a racing driver called Piers Courage.

He attended boarding school but moved on to a comprehensive and sixth-form college.

After school he studied journalism at Harlow College and worked for local south London newspapers before being spotted by then Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie.

He was given his own showbiz column, Bizarre, where McKenzie encouraged him to establish his trademark - pictures of Morgan with the rich and famous.

He was just 28 when he became editor of the News of the World in January 1994.

In November of the following year, he became the youngest national daily newspaper editor when he moved to The Mirror.

Self-publicist

Never one to shy from the limelight, the 39-year-old Mirror editor frequently courts controversy but is usually prepared to publicly defend his decisions.

Morgan recently agreed to be questioned by MPs about his publication of photos allegedly showing UK troops abusing an Iraqi.

The Mirror tried to protect the name and memory of Diana from improper exploitation by James Hewitt and I am proud of having done so Piers Morgan

He stands by the photos despite doubts voiced about their authenticity and has refused to hand over their sources, while at the same time praising the government's "balanced and responsible position" on an inquiry.

In the past, Morgan has robustly defended the role of tabloid newspapers against criticisms over invasions of privacy.

He has also given a staunch defence of press standards and of the press watchdog, the PCC.

He has famously battled in court with supermodel Naomi Campbell who has just won a breach of confidentiality claim against the Daily Mirror for the publication of pictures of her leaving drug addiction treatment in early 2001.

The Mirror editor on one of his frequent visits to the High Court

The Appeal Court had ordered her to pay the paper's £350,000 legal costs after overturning a High Court ruling but the latest judgement leaves the Daily Mirror facing a total legal costs bill of more than £1m.

Undeterred, he has been prepared to take on anyone, even the prime minister's wife, Cherie Blair claiming in 2002 that she tried to get him sacked.

The claim was denied by Downing Street.

He said: "She is too political. But she hasn't got me fired and it doesn't do her husband any favours for her to go around demanding the heads of editors."

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His career has been marked by a series of run-ins with the royals.

Princess Diana's former butler Paul Burrell sold his story to the Daily Mirror newspaper for £300,000 in November 2002.

The paper announced it had acquired "exclusive world rights" to the story by fighting off bids from more than 400 media organisations worldwide.

Piers Morgan: The author Private Lives of the Stars, 1990 Secret Lives of the Stars, 1991 Phillip Schofield: To Dream a Dream, 1992 Take That: Our story, 1993 Take That: On the Road, 1994

But one of the biggest royal rows sparked by Morgan was the publication by the Mirror of letters between Diana, Princess of Wales and James Hewitt.

The editor said the Mirror had passed the letters on to Kensington Palace after having obtained them from a close friend of James Hewitt.

"The Mirror tried to protect the name and memory of Diana from improper exploitation by James Hewitt and I am proud of having done so," he said.

Going upmarket

In 2002, Morgan decided to drop the famous red-top logo on the Mirror, replacing it with a less tabloid-style black and white masthead.

After the 11 September attacks, Morgan decided to change the focus of the Mirror to serious news which was reflected by the paper's broadsheet-style front page on 12 September, 2001.

He hired left-wing journalist John Pilger, a strong critic of the Bush administration.

The Mirror took a strong anti-war stance in the build-up to the war in Iraq and won the Newspaper of the Year Award 2001.

Press complaints

Piers Morgan hit the headlines himself in February 2000 when the Mirror became embroiled in a share dealing scandal after it emerged that a number of staff had bought shares tipped in the City Slickers column.

He was rapped by the Press Complaints Commission who ruled he had breached the newspaper industry's code of practice.

He caused one of his first royal rows in November 1998 by publishing a story saying Prince Harry had hurt himself, under the headline, "Harry's had an accident but we're not allowed to tell you".

He published that story, despite coming under pressure from royal press secretaries to drop it.

One of his most notorious gaffes followed his appointment as editor of the News of the World by Rupert Murdoch.

His tenure was overshadowed when he printed an intrusive front-page picture of Victoria Spencer, the former wife of Earl Spencer, in a detox clinic, against the editors' code of conduct.

He received a dressing-down from the Press Complaints Commission and was publicly rebuked by Murdoch.

But Piers Morgan has courted controversy from the outset.

Soon after he took over editorship of The Mirror he caused outrage in 1996 with his headline "Achtung Surrender!" the day before an England and Germany Euro'96 clash.

He lists his recreations as cricket and being an ardent fan of Arsenal FC.