Matt Hancock is, at the time we’re writing this article, competing in the latest series of “I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here” on ITV. The show has progressed to the elimination stage, so it’s possible Hancock will have been eliminated by the time you read this. Whether he has or hasn’t, plenty of people believe he should never have been in the jungle in Australia to begin with. Hancock never got the permission of the Conservative Party before heading “Down Under” to become a reality television star, and the Parliamentary watchdog Acoba confirmed on November 23rd that he’d broken ministerial rules by doing so.
Plenty of people, both inside and outside the world of politics, have had things to say about the former Health Minister’s appearance on the show, and one of them is our local MP, Mhairi Black. History has shown again and again that the SNP’s Shadow Spokesperson isn’t afraid to ruffle feathers when she’s asked for her opinion on something, and she hasn’t disappointed on this occasion. She’ll have delighted and offended people in equal measure when she condemned Hancock by saying- and this is a direct quote – that he would rather eat ostrich anus than do the job he’s paid for by representing his constituents.
It’s unlikely that Black has ever been a fan of Hancock’s, but her opinion of him has worsened in recent years following his actions during the pandemic, which saw him suspended from the Conservative party and dismissed from his role after being caught on camera having an affair. At the time, strict lockdown conditions meant that coming as close to anybody outside your direct family as Hancock did in the images that went viral online was strictly prohibited. Black went further than the headline-generating “ostrich anus” line, stating that he should have “long ago” resigned as a politician because of his “deplorable” actions during the pandemic and that the fact that he hadn’t been permanently dismissed by his party is a symptom of the “malaise” engulfing it.
Black isn’t the only Renfrewshire-based politician to take issue with Hancock’s appearance on the television show. Gavin Newlands of Paisley and Renfrewshire North was less forthright than Black when asked for comment but still made his views perfectly clear. He feels that there could be a time and a place for a politician to appear on a reality television show in the name of raising awareness for a certain cause, but the timing of Hancock’s venture is awful. Newlands points out that politicians have a large allocation of holiday leave over the summer and that if Hancock wanted to pursue a new career in his spare time, he could have done it then. He also questions who’s representing his constituents while he’s in the Australian jungle. Hancock’s team had suggested prior to his appearance in the show that he might still be able to answer questions from his constituents through the show’s video link, but that hasn’t happened.
It isn’t just the fact that Hancock is away while he should be serving his constituents that’s upset Newlands – the MP is also unhappy that Hancock was absent when Jeremy Hunt recently gave his budget statement in the Commons. Given the turbulent economic times we live in, Newlands believes it was the most important budget statement in years and that Hancock’s absence for such a frivolous reason was disrespectful.
In the interests of balance, we should point out that Hancock’s stated reason for appearing on “I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here” is to raise awareness for the dyslexia causes he supports. The statement might carry more weight if he’d spent more time discussing dyslexia-related causes during his time on the show and if he hadn’t cancelled meetings with dyslexia groups and the charities that support them so he could take part in the competition. It’s been reported by some sources that Hancock is to be paid as much as £400,000 for his participation in the show – a figure that hasn’t been disputed by showrunners or anybody associated with the production. A cynic would suggest that it’s this, rather than any noble cause, that prompted Hancock to accept the invitation.
The simple fact of the matter is that “I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here” isn’t a charitable organisation or a platform for raising awareness. It’s a television reality show and a money-making behemoth. It brings in massive amounts of revenue for the people who produce and air it through its phone-in votes. TV commercials aired in the breaks during the show are charged at a premium. The show even makes money through merchandising. There are not one but two official “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here” casino games – an online slots game and a Slingo game – both of which make money for the show by taking money out of the players who play them at online casinos. Comparison sites like SisterSite.com indicate that the official “I’m A Celebrity” casino games are among the most popular of their kind in the UK. It’s from places like this that the money that pays Hancock’s (alleged) salary is drawn from – and that’s another reason why there’s controversy about his appearance.
As for Mhairi Black – upsetting Conservative MPs and conservative newspapers is another day at the office for her. She’s attracted plenty of controversy of her own since first being elected to Parliament at the age of 20 in 2015, including a memorable incident in 2017 where she described some Irish people as “plastic” and a contentious decision to invite a drag queen to a primary school in 2020 without checking the social media history of the drag queen in question, which later proved to be full of explicit content. As we said early on in this article, she’s not afraid to upset people or ruffle feathers. If Matt Hancock ever deigns to return to Parliament after his departure from the jungle, Mhairi Black might soon make him wish that he hadn’t bothered.