Matt Hancock last night faced furious calls to quit as an MP after flying out to star in ITV’s I’m A Celebrity show.
Grieving relatives of Covid victims accused him of “cashing in” on his appalling legacy as blundering Health Secretary that left Britain with one of the highest death tolls in Europe.
Labour’s Bell Ribeiro-Addy said: “His gallivanting on reality TV is an insult to those who died due to his mismanagement.”
Meanwhile families of Covid victims who are still haunted by grief over the deaths of loved ones have told of their fury at Matt Hancock swanning off to the jungle.
As shameless Mr Hancock arrived in Australia for I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, he faced angry demands to quit as an MP.
And his jaunt comes just as the public inquiry into No10’s handling of the pandemic gets under way.
Mr Hancock, 44, was suspended from the Tory Party but is to get a rumoured fee of £350,000 to be on the ITV show, which starts Sunday.
He could also face a grilling from fellow contestant Charlene White, who has blasted the Tories over Partygate.
The ITV newsreader, whose great-aunt Dell died of Covid, broke down during an appearance on Loose Women in January while speaking about the isolated service the family held for Dell, saying: “My family stuck by the rules.”
A spokesman for the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group, he said: “Hancock isn’t a celebrity, he’s the former Health Secretary who oversaw the UK having one of the highest death tolls in the world from Covid while breaking his own lockdown rules.
“The fact that he is trying to cash in on his terrible legacy, rather than seeking to reflect on the appalling consequences of his time in government says it all about the sort of person he is.
“My family was ripped apart by Hancock’s actions and turning on the TV to see him being paraded around as a joke is sickening.”
Mr Hancock grinned as he arrived at Brisbane Airport yesterday. Asked about his appearance on the show, he said: “My lips are sealed.” He declined to answer any more questions.
But in an article he tried to justify his decision to join the show.
He wrote: “It’s our job as politicians to go where the people are – not to sit in ivory towers in Westminster. Like you, politicians are human, with hopes, fears and normal emotions just like everyone else.
“Where better to show the human side of those who make these decisions than with the most watched programme on TV?”
Mr Hancock said he would make a donation to St Nicholas Hospice in Suffolk and causes supporting dyslexia off the back of the show.
Lobby Akinnola, who lost his dad Femi to the virus in 2020, demanded that ITV cancel Mr Hancock’s planned stint in the jungle.
Matt Forrest, whose mum Kaye, 89, died of Covid in May 2020, said Mr Hancock was “paid to be a politician not a celebrity”.
The 54-year-old, from Doncaster, South Yorks, said: “He should resign.”
Jean Adamson’s dad Aldrick also died. She branded Mr Hancock’s appearance in the show a “slap in the face”. She added: “The inquiry has just begun. For him to be appearing on reality TV like this is in bad taste.”
An unnamed friend of Mr Hancock ’s estranged wife Martha apparently branded him a “total halfwit who is making some unwise career moves”.
And Lib Dem MP Layla Moran, who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Coronavirus said: “He has prioritised his TV career over serving his constituents or providing answers to the millions whose lives were irrevocably changed by the decisions he made in the pandemic.”
Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy added: “His gallivanting on reality TV is an insult to his constituents and those who died due to his mismanagement.
"He should resign and call a byelection.”
SNP MP Pete Wishart said: “It speaks volumes that Matt Hancock would rather be stranded in a remote jungle eating kangaroo testicles than spend a moment longer on the Tory benches at Westminster.”
Even fellow Tories turned on Mr Hancock, who quit as Health Secretary after being filmed in a passionate clinch with married aide Gina Coladangelo, 45, in breach of Covid rules at the time.
MP Tim Loughton said: “I’m disgusted that he’s put his so-called celebrity career ahead of serving his constituents. He has been an absolute prat.”
And a spokesman for Rishi Sunak said the PM “thinks at this challenging time for the country MPs should be working hard for their constituents”.
Mr Hancock’s aides insist that he had informed his bosses “in the same way any MP would going on a foreign visit”. They said he would also be making a donation to a hospice in his Suffolk constituency but did not reveal how much.
The Mirror understands that Mr Hancock had not sought advice from the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments before accepting the jungle appearance. But his spokesman insisted he has followed the rules.
The trip follows on the heels of Boris Johnson abandoning his constituents to take three holidays after he was ousted as PM.
