Matt Hancock has been suspended by the Tory party as he is set to join the cast of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here as a surprise extra campmate. The Tory MP was health secretary during the Covid pandemic and made headlines when an affair with his aide Gina Coladangelo was made public.
He's now set to head into the jungle despite still being a sitting MP, the Sun reports. The politician is rumoured to be arriving with comedian Seann Walsh as a latecomer to the camp and could be in Australia for near to six weeks in total.
The former health secretary has already lost the Tory whip just minutes after the rumours of him taking part in the reality show emerged - meaning he won't be a card-carrying member of the Conservative Party in Parliament. The same thing happened to his Tory colleague Nadine Dorries when she appeared on I'm a Celeb in 2012, but she was readmitted not long after.
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Chief whip Simon Hart said: "Following a conversation with Matt Hancock, I have considered the situation and believe this is a matter serious enough to warrant suspension of the whip with immediate effect."
A TV insider told the Sun: "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 round the campfire. He's the latest in a long line of figures from the political sphere, including MP Nadine Dorries, Stanley Johnson and MP Lembit Opik.
"There's been a question mark over who the twelfth campmate would be, partly because negotiations over Matt going in were so top secret. It seems Matt was a last-minute signing."
This year's official line up of campmates was revealed on Monday, October 31 - and it includes the show's first-ever royal, rugby player Mike Tindall. Legendary singer Boy George is also joining the show along with household name and radio DJ Chris Moyles.
Matt Hancock's career has been full of controversy. His high-profile affair, in which he was caught on camera breaking lockdown rules that he wrote by kissing an aide in a UK Government office, made all the front pages - and he later said he broke the rules because he "fell in love," in an interview with Steven Bartlett on the Diary of a CEO podcast.
WalesOnline have contacted ITV for more details on Matt Hancock's rumoured appearance.
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