Matt Hancock paid £45,000 to appear on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins
Matt Hancock was paid £45,000 to appear on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins, it has emerged.
The former health secretary declared the payment in an update to the MPs’ Register of Interests published today.
The entry also revealed he spent 80 hours filming the programme while parliament was in recess, between 24 September and 8 October.
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This was shortly before heading to Australia for his controversial stint on in I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!
Mr Hancock is yet to declare the amount he was paid to appear on the hit ITV show, which finished with him coming third on Sunday, but reports have suggested his fee was significantly higher.
His decision to head to Australia while parliament was sitting has seen him suspended from the Conservative parliamentary party, putting his future as an MP in jeopardy.
Many Conservative colleagues have been embarrassed and outraged by Mr Hancock’s decision to leave behind his constituents and enter the infamous jungle more than 10,000 miles away.
COVID campaigners also made their views known when they flew a banner over the camp demanding he leave.
The West Suffolk MP’s appearance on Celebrity SAS is expected to air in 2023.
Despite his two TV appearances, his spokesperson has insisted Mr Hancock has “no intention of standing down from politics” to pursue a career in showbiz.
Mr Hancock is expected to face the music when he returns to parliament for the second reading of his Dyslexia Bill on Friday.
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Mr Hancock, who was diagnosed with dyslexia at university, had vowed to use the “incredible platform” offered by I’m A Celebrity to raise awareness of the learning difficulty.
Speculation has been mounting over whether he will have the Conservative whip restored and seek to stand again at the next election.
He appears to be up against a tight timeframe, as Tory MPs have been given until 5 December – next Monday – to declare their intention to re-run at the next vote, expected to be in 2024.
Mr Hancock’s career as a cabinet minister came to an end last summer when he resigned in disgrace after being caught on CCTV kissing an aide in his ministerial office, in a breach of his own social distancing rules imposed to contain the coronavirus pandemic.