Why Matt Hancock has signed up for I’m a Celebrity

Matt Hancock has been suspended as a Tory MP after reports emerged that he is to appear in the next series of reality TV show I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!

The former health secretary has been looking for ways to rehabilitate his political career after he was forced to step down last summer for breaching lockdown rules by conducting an affair with his aide Gina Coladangelo.

Hancock had planned to stand for chairman of the Treasury select committee, “one of the most prominent backbench positions in parliament”, according to The Times. But he pulled out of the contest when the number of people backing him for the role “just wasn’t large enough”, said Guido Fawkes.

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Now, having been very publicly snubbed by new prime minister Rishi Sunak last week, “the man who screwed up Britain’s pandemic response then got caught breaking his own social distancing rules while simultaneously cheating on his wife – has decided to serve his penance on ITV”, said Stuart Heritage in The Guardian.

While he has had the Tory whip removed, a political ally of Hancock’s defended his decision to appear on the show, telling The Telegraph: “I’m A Celeb is the most watched show on TV. Matt doesn’t expect to serve in Government again, so it’s an incredible opportunity for him to engage with the 12 million Brits who tune in every single night.”

The ally said he would use the show to promote his dyslexia campaign and had agreed with producers he could communicate with his constituency team if urgent matters arose while he was in the Australian jungle.

The news has, nevertheless, “sparked a backlash” in Westminster and beyond, said Sky News, while members of his local Conservative Association are “less than pleased about his decision to fly to Australia to appear on the show”.

Andy Drummond, the deputy chairman of West Suffolk Conservative Association, told the PA news agency: “I'm looking forward to him eating a kangaroo’s penis. You can quote me [on] that.”

“Hancock might have been advised that he’s simply following in the footsteps of his colleagues,” said Heritage in The Guardian, citing former cabinet colleagues Nadine Dorries, who appeared on I’m A Celebrity in 2012, and Penny Mordaunt, who took part in the celebrity diving show Splash in 2014.

“But in truth, nobody really knew them back then. They were political minnows looking to elbow their way into the spotlight,” Heritage said. “That’s not Hancock, though. He enters the jungle a known quantity. Everyone in the country is fully aware of him, of his damp-mouthed, sadsack persona, and of all the things he has done. People died on his watch, and now they finally have a chance to get their own back.”