MPs could be blocked from abandoning their constituents to appear on I’m A Celebrity and other reality shows under plans laid in Parliament.
Matt Hancock triggered fury after ditching his West Suffolk electors for a £400,000 fee for a stint in the Australian jungle. Now the Lib Dems want to prevent other MPs following his path.
They have tabled an Early Day Motion, dubbed the “Bushtucker Bill'', calling for Westminster’s rules to be updated to prevent MPs from taking part in reality TV programmes abroad for weeks at a time while Parliament is sitting.
Lib Dem MP Christine Jardine, who tabled the motion, said: “This Bushtucker Bill is designed to stop MPs following in Matt Hancock’s shameful footsteps to the jungle.
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“Hancock disgracefully deserted his constituents for the sake of his ego.
“In any other job he’d have been sacked for going AWOL.”
The EDM published today says: “That this House believes that there should be a change to the House’s Code of Conduct to set a limit to the number of days members can spend being paid to take part in the recording of entertainment television programmes abroad while the House is sitting.”
The disgraced former Health Secretary is desperately trying to cling onto his political career after finishing third in I’m A Celebrity …!
Mr Hancock was stripped of the Tory whip earlier this month after jetting to the jungle.
Tory MPs have until Monday to decide whether to seek re-election.
Unless the whip is restored by then, the party may be forced to choose a new candidate for Mr Hancock’s seat, which he won with a 23,194 majority in December 2019.
Angry voters in his West Suffolk constituency, along with some leading Conservative councillors, want him to quit.
His spokesman has insisted the MP “has no intention of standing down or stepping away from politics”.
Ms Jardine said: “Matt Hancock spent days crawling through snakes instead of trawling through casework.
“He won food for campmates while his constituents wondered how they will feed their families this winter.
“People facing soaring bills deserve MPs who listen to their concerns and stand up for them, not use their position to appear in reality TV shows."
Asked whether Rishi Sunak would back the plan, the Prime Minister’s press secretary said: “I think it would depend on what the TV show actually is because obviously there is a great deal of good MPs from across the House can do talking about issues on certain mediums.”
Mr Hancock's spokesman said: "Matt's excellent team continues to deal with constituency matters, as they already do while he's in Westminster.
"Matt has been working while he's been in Australia and show producers agreed before he went on the show that he could communicate with his team if there was an urgent constituency matter.
"Matt will be making a donation to St Nicholas Hospice in Suffolk and causes supporting dyslexia - including the British Dyslexia Association, off the back of his appearance. He will, of course, declare the amount he receives from the show to Parliament to ensure complete transparency, as normal."
The spokesman has refused to say how much of the £400,000 fee will go to charity.
