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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Entertainment
Ben Glaze & Ellie Kemp

Plans to stop MPs going on reality TV after Matt Hancock's I'm a Celeb stint

MPs could soon be stopped from appearing on reality TV shows and ditching their constituents in new plans set out in Parliament.

West Suffolk MP Matt Hancock caused controversy when he jetted off down under to join the I'm A Celebrity line-up after being offered £400,000. He had the Tory whip removed for the move, meaning he was effectively expelled from the party but still kept his seat.

But now the Lib Dems want to prevent other politicians from doing the same. 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.

Read more: ITV I'm a Celebrity's Jill Scott all smiles as she arrives back at Manchester Airport after being crowned Queen of the Jungle

Lib Dem MP Christine Jardine, who tabled the Bill, said: “This Bushtucker Bill is designed to stop MPs following in Matt Hancock’s shameful footsteps to the jungle. 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.”

Matt came third on the ITV reality show (James Gourley/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

The disgraced former Health Secretary is desperately trying to cling onto his political career after finishing third in I’m A Celebrity. He was stripped of the Tory whip earlier this month after jetting to the jungle and Tory MPs have until Monday to decide whether to seek re-election, reports the Mirror .

Unless the whip is restored by then, the party may be forced to choose a new candidate for 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.

But 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."

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.

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