M&S has addressed Holly Willoughby's future with the brand amid This Morning 'sacking' petition

M&S has addressed Holly Willoughby's future with the brand amid a petition calling for her to be sacked from This Morning after claims both she and Phillip Schofield 'jumped the queue' as the late Queen Elizabeth II lay in State.

The high street and online retailer, which employs the mum-of-three as one of its brand ambassadors, has addressed its position after a petition calling for her and Phillip Schofield to be sacked as hosts of This Morning reached 65,000 signatures.

ITV daytime viewers and others were left furious when they heard claims that both Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield had 'queue jumped' the line to see the late Queen Elizabeth II's coffin.

Bosses at ITV clarified that the duo had been given priority access to cover the event as part of the media but some fans who had queued for hours on end to pay their respects took issue that Phil and Holly did not do the same.

But as 'queue gate' continues, according to the Daily Star, an M&S spokesman said, “I can confirm we have extended our current contract with Holly, and we will continue to work with her."

Reports from an insider at ITV claimed Holly, who is mum to Belle, 11, Harry, 13, and Chester, seven, won't resign unless viewers don't want her there.

They claimed, "She (Holly) has been devastated by all the negative reaction after she turned up to work at Westminster Hall with Phil on Friday, but she's not going to resign.

"This Morning has been her life for more than a decade and the only way she'd consider quitting at this stage is if viewers really didn't want her there."

Fresh reports over the weekend claimed that Holly and Phil weren't even on the media list to see the Queen lying in State at Westminster Hall.

A source told the Mail on Sunday, "When they got there, their names weren’t on the list so there were some discussions and – after some back and forth – Phil and Holly were given access and they were ushered through. The whole thing caused a bit of a hoo-ha,” 

But a spokesperson for ITV has since denied the claims, they said, “Phillip and Holly had full accreditation which was organised by the This Morning production team. Any claims otherwise are untrue.” 

Holly Willoughby also addressed the 'queue jump' claims during last week's This Morning episode where she told viewers, "None of the broadcasters and journalists took anyone’s places in the queue and no one filed past the Queen. We, of course, respected those rules however we realised that it may have looked like something else and therefore we totally understand the reaction.

"Please know that we would never jump a queue.”

Some viewers have shown their support for the telly duo, one tweeted, "#PhilipScofield #HollyWilloughby #HollyandPhil they did nothing wrong stop acting like you would have denied the option to go in your work queue instead of the long, main queue. and don’t you DARE take them off the telly i need them."

Another fan put, "#HollyandPhil Holly ur a lovely lady and it isnt in your nature to disrespect anyone. I saw the pain in ur face yesterday with all this backlash towards you and phil. It made me angry your one of loveliest most genuine people i see on tv and you did nothing wrong. Stay strong."

And Duncan Bannatyne put, "I was glad to see #HollyWilloughby and #PhilipScofield back on my TV this morning. They are very good at what they do and they did nothing wrong."