Matt Hancock was grilled on Good Morning Britain about his fee for being on I'm A Celebrity and why he didn't follow his own guidelines during the pandemic.
The former health secretary appeared on GMB on Tuesday and was questioned about his decision to join I'm A Celeb as well as his fee. He said he did not "primarily" go on I'm A Celebrity for the money as he insisted the 3% of his £320,000 fee he donated to charity was substantial.
He added: "I did absolutely give some of the money to charity. I didn't primarily do it (go on the reality show) for the money, I primarily did it to try to show who I really am." He insisted his £10,000 donation was a "decent sum" and was "more than my MPs salary". He did concede that "of course there was a discussion and negotiation over the fee".
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Mr Hancock confirmed he still received his MP salary while in the jungle, but said his donations were larger than that sum, which is around £7,000 per month. He insisted that he "certainly would have considered" doing the programme for £10 and denied negotiations soared after he turned down initial offers.
Records on the MPs' register of interests showed Mr Hancock received £320,000 from Lifted Entertainment, ITV Studios, for the work which he listed as lasting for 30 days. During the show, Mr Hancock came in third place behind actor Owen Warner and England professional footballer Jill Scott.
Mr Hancock resigned as health secretary for breaking social distancing guidance by kissing and embracing an aide in his office. And he was quizzed about this on GMB.
Susanna Reid said: "Can we focus first on the reason that you left. And that was the embrace with your lover. Lots of people find it completely astonishing that you could stand at the podium month after month telling people to stick to the rules. But for some reason they didn't apply to you. Why not?"
The former health secretary replied: "I'm only human." Susanna then said: "Sorry, the whole country's only human Mr Hancock."
He said: "I understand that," before the host asked: "why did we have to stick to the rules but you were exempt?" He replied: "This is what I asked for forgiveness in the jungle for.
"I'm human. I've described in my book what happened and how it happened right at the end of the pandemic. But that isn't an excuse and that's why I've been open about it I suppose. We all have our frailties and I fell in love."
Susanna pointed out that people had been fined and been sent to prison for breaking the rules but he had not faced either of those penalties. She added: "People find it remarkable that you got away with doing something that most people weren't allowed to do."
Mr Hancock said: "It doesn't feel like I got away with it Susanna. Of course it wasn't breaking the law because the legal rules weren't in place. That's why I wasn't fined."
"But there was a ban on gathering indoors of two people," said the host. He answered: "Yes exactly, that's what I was just about to say. That's just the explanation for I didn't get away with anything."
He further added that he did not break the law but he did "break the guidelines". He said "And I resigned. I took accountability for my error."
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