Former Conservative health secretary Matt Hancock has joined the cast of I’m a Celebrity 2022… Get Me Out of Here!
The MP’s decision to go to the jungle has enraged colleagues because parliament will still be in session for the majority of the show’s run.
The whip was removed shortly after news of his impending appearance on the Ant and Dec-hosted Survival Show was revealed in today’s Sun.
“Following a conversation with Matt Hancock, I have considered the situation and believe this is a serious enough matter to warrant the suspension of the whip with immediate effect,” Chief Whip Simon Hart said.
His appearance comes just one day after he ended his campaign to become the next chair of the Treasury Select Committee.
He is not the first politician to appear on the show; his former cabinet colleague Nadine Dorries appeared on it in 2013. The Conservatives briefly suspended her over the decision.
Kezia Dugdale participated in 2017, shortly after her tenure as Scottish Labour leader ended, but while she was still an MSP.
She was made to drink an ostrich and pig anuses milkshake and crawl through fish guts in a tank labelled Sickola Sturgeon.
This year’s show also features comedian Seann Walsh and singer Boy George as contestants.
“Matt is a sensational signing for the show as producers love a star with a story to tell – and they always hope they’ll spill the beans around the campfire,” a TV insider told The Sun.
“He is the most recent in a long line of political figures, including MP Nadine Dorries, Stanley Johnson, and MP Lembit Opik.”
“There’s been some speculation about who the 12th campmate would be, partly because Matt’s admission was so closely guarded. Matt appears to have been a last-minute addition.”
Mr Hancock was forced to resign as health secretary last year after the Sun published photographs of him kissing a colleague, Gina Coladangelo, inside the Department of Health.
