Matt Hancock’s decision to take a break from his work as an MP to appear on reality TV has been sarcastically described as “an inspiration” to others in the public sector.
Responding to news the former health secretary would appear on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!, Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA union which represents senior civil servants, said: “Oh to have a job where you can decide for yourself you’re taking a month off, abandon your work and responsibilities, get paid shedloads and face little consequence.
“I’m sure he’ll be an inspiration to other public servants.”
As MPs are not employees and there are no formal requirements for doing the job, they are free to spend as much or as little time in Parliament as they like.
There are also no formal guidelines on holidays. The Commons is due to sit for only 158 days in 2022 but MPs often spend many of their days “off” doing constituency work.
However, there is nothing to stop them taking holidays instead, or indeed taking a break while Parliament is sitting and continuing to draw their annual salary of £84,144.
This means that if Mr Hancock lasts the full three weeks on I’m A Celebrity he will have received just under £5,000 in salary despite being absent from the Commons, and on top of any payment from broadcaster ITV.
Taking a break from Parliament to go on holiday, do a second job or appear on reality TV usually brings criticism, but this has not always been enough to deter MPs from doing so.
On Tuesday, Labour MP Justin Madders tweeted: “From Geoffrey Cox and Boris Johnson spending weeks in the Caribbean when they should have been in Parliament, to Matt Hancock deciding he can become a ‘celebrity’, it seems Tory MPs consider representing their constituents to be an inconvenience at best.”
Mr Johnson went on holiday to the Dominican Republic in October, missing several days of Parliamentary business including the crunch vote on fracking, and has not voted in the House since July 18.
Sir Geoffrey Cox, the former attorney general, was criticised in 2021 when it emerged that he had used a proxy to take part in Commons votes while earning many times his MP’s salary working on a legal case in the British Virgin Islands.
Both Mr Johnson and Sir Geoffrey remained Tory MPs despite their absence from Parliament, with Sir Geoffrey saying it was up to his constituents to decide whether they wanted him to continue or not.
But other MPs have not been so fortunate.
Like Mr Hancock, Nadine Dorries had the whip suspended when it was announced she would appear on I’m A Celebrity in November 2012.
She lasted just 10 days before becoming the first contestant voted off the show, but did not have the whip restored to her until May 2013.
Ms Dorries was also found to have broken the MPs’ Code of Conduct by failing to disclose how much she had been paid for appearing on the programme. She apologised to the Commons and eventually registered payments totalling £20,328 associated with her appearance.
In 2006, George Galloway was ridiculed for his appearance on Celebrity Big Brother – during which he impersonated a cat – but, as leader of the Respect Party, he retained the whip.
The then-MP received between £145,000 and £150,000 for appearing on the show, which he later said had paid for an extra constituency caseworker and donations of “tens of thousands of pounds” for Palestinian relief charity Interpal.
