Piers Morgan reacts to Matt Hancock joining I’m A Celebrity
Matt Hancock is coming under fire for a deal worth a reported £400,000 to appear on I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here during the cost of living crisis.
The West Suffolk MP and former health secretary has landed in Australia for the reality TV show, which starts on Sunday.
Reports say Mr Hancock will pocket around £400,000 to appear on the popular show and the payday has sparked a backlash among some of the constituents facing higher food and energy bills.
Sharon Twite, 50, landlady of The White Swan, in Exning, in Hancock’s constituency, voted for him at the last election but hit out at him for “letting us all down”.
“He’s getting £400,000 to go and eat grubs in the jungle, Jesus Christ,” the mum-of-four told The Sun.
“It’s disgraceful. He’s just profiting off his shocking behaviour. He thinks he can get away with anything. The man just doesn’t have his feet on the ground.
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ICYMI: Matt Hancock ‘to be paid £400,000’ to appear on I’m a Celebrity
A new report has claimed that Matt Hancock will be paid a fee of £400,000 to appear on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!
The Conservative MP, who resigned as health secretary last year after he was caught kissing his aide Gina Coladangelo, announced earlier this week that he would be featuring on the forthcoming series of the hit ITV reality show.
My colleague Louis Chilton reports:
ICYMI: It was right to strip Hancock of whip, minister says
A cabinet minister has said she carried out constituency work while appearing on a reality TV and that it did not affect her job as an MP.
Climate minister Graham Stuart defended the Conservatives removing the whip from Matt Hancock for heading to the Australian jungle while Boris Johnson and Liz Truss have been permitted to go on holiday.
He told Sky News: “We think that MPs should be attending to their duties and with so many people working from home these days it is possible to work from wherever you are in the world. It’s not really possible to do that from the jungle.
“While you’re eating various worms and sticking your head in unpleasant places it’s quite hard to concentrate on what’s going on in your Suffolk constituency.”
Matt Hancock on I’m A Celeb is not about dividing camp, says executive producer
The executive producer of I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! said enlisting Matt Hancock to appear on the popular reality series was “not a question of trying to divide camp”.
Ellie Lorizzo reports:
UK headed for longest recession in century, says Bank of England
The UK could be facing the longest period of recession since reliable records began a century ago, the Bank of England has warned.
The economy could fall into eight consecutive quarters of negative growth if current market expectations prove correct – with growth only coming back in the middle of 2024.
Our politics correspondent Adam Forrest reports:
Cabinet minister says she did constituency work while on Splash! reality TV show
A cabinet minister has said she carried out constituency work while appearing on a reality TV and that it did not affect her job as an MP.
Penny Mordaunt, the Commons leader, appeared on Splash! Earlier this year and had training for the diving show but that “none of my time was spent away from this House.”
She was defending her appearance on the show during business questions in the Commons earlier today.
For Labour, shadow Commons leader Thangam Debbonaire told Ms Mordauant: “I am glad to see the leader in her place and not joining the former health secretary Down Under for any Bushtucker trials.
“We know she enjoys the business questions far too much for that but we also know she’s a bit partial to reality TV, so perhaps I can suggest something a little closer to home.
“I hear Channel 4 might commission another season of Make Me Prime Minister, perhaps the right honourable member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson) fancies his chances on a Place In The Sun.
“The whole government really ought to get themselves on something they’re actually good at and I understand that applications for Pointless have now opened.”
Ms Mordaunt replied: “When I heard that a colleague was volunteering to be squeezed into small spaces with slippery creatures, was going to have to swallow unpalatable things to achieve their goals and that their credibility and dignity was placed in jeopardy, I was assuming you were talking about a member of the Opposition frontbench, not the member for West Suffolk, but she kindly reminisces about my time on Splash!.
“Honourable members will find it hard to believe given my performance at the time was compared to having the elegance of a paving slab being pushed off a scaffold, but I did actually have training, but none of my time was spent away from this House.
“I have helped save the Hilsea Lido, which is currently now being restored to its 1930s glory with help from the levelling up fund.”
Our politics correspondent Adam Forrest has more:
Dumping Manston migrants at London station ‘massive error’, Home Office official admits
The Home Office told a charity it made a “massive error” by dumping asylum seekers from the Manston processing centre dumped at London’s Victoria station without accommodation.
A group of 11 men were driven to Kent on Tuesday as part of a larger group and left at the station, accordingt to the Under One Sky homelessness charity.
Our politics correspondent Adam Forrest reports:
UN envoy warns Rishi Sunak against ‘troubling’ austerity cut
Olivier de Schutter, the UN rapporteur on extreme poverty, said he was “extremely troubled” by the prospect of public spending cuts – as the prime minister looks to balance the books after the disastrous mini-Budget.
Our politics correspondent Adam Forrest reports:
ICYMI: Matt Hancock stripped of Tory whip for signing up to I’m A Celebrity
“This is a matter serious enough to warrant suspension of the whip with immediate effect,” said Simon Hart, the Tory chief whip.
Our deputy politics editor Rob Merrick reports:
Matt Hancock: A timeline of the former health secretary’s Westminster controversies
Not fully up to speed with who Matt Hancock is?
The former health secretary regularly addressed the nation during the Covid pandemic.
He also hit the headline last year for having an affair and was caught kissing an aide while at work, breaching social distancing guidelines.
My colleague Joe Sommerland has more:
