MATT Hancock will reportedly receive a fee of around £350,000 for appearing on ITV’s I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! which begun on Sunday.
PR expert Mark Borkowski shared the estimation with The Mail based on Noel Edmunds’s £500,000 fee.
He said: “They paid Noel Edmunds £500,000 and that was a top booking. Either Hancock is desperate for the visibility or the money ... if it's the money I'd expect £350,000."
The exact fee is still unknown although he will be invited to share his earnings with parliament after the show.
Hancock was confirmed as a late arrival on this series of the show on Tuesday, he will be joining the show with Sean Walsh.
Hancock will be making “a donation” to St Nicholas Hospice in Suffolk from his fee while attempting to shine a light on his dyslexia campaign when appearing on the show.
Hancock faced fresh Tory criticism over his decision to join I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! as he arrived in Australia.
The former health secretary said he is entering the ITV programme’s jungle to “go to where the people are – not to sit in ivory towers in Westminster”.
He insisted “I haven’t lost my marbles” by deciding to join the reality show after being suspended from the parliamentary Conservative Party.
The West Suffolk MP claimed his “first priority” is to his constituents as he flew more than 10,000 miles to join the ITV show, which starts on Sunday.
But Cabinet minister Mark Harper said Hancock has not made the “right judgment” and will now have to decide whether he wants to continue as an MP on his return.
Hancock had the Tory whip suspended by Chief Whip Simon Hart, who described the situation as “serious”.
Transport Secretary Harper told Sky News: “The Chief Whip has made the position clear, which is he’s made a decision that going on I’m A Celebrity is not compatible with doing your job properly as a Member of Parliament.”
Pressed on whether Hancock should stand down as an MP, Harper said: “What he chooses to do in the future is a matter for him.”
Harper told LBC: “I think we can draw conclusions from the fact that the whip has been taken away that perhaps Mr Hancock hasn’t made the right judgment in this case.”
