Matt Hancock ‘should be doing his job’ not reality TV, says minister
Matt Hancock #MattHancock
Matt Hancock should be serving his constituents and should not have appeared on I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here, a Cabinet minister has said.
Speaking on Sunday morning, Transport Secretary Mark Harper, said he believes Mr Hancock should not have joined the reality show regardless of how well he does.
The former Health Secretary sparked backlash from his peers after he announced he would be joining ITV’s hit show even though Parliament is still in session.
The former Health Secretary has had the whip suspended and speaking to Sky News’ Sophy Ridge, Mr Harper said: “If you are a member of Parliament and Parliament is sitting, I think your job is to be representing your constituents, either in your constituency or in Parliament.
“I don’t think serving members of Parliament should be taking part in reality television programmes.
“However well they do on them, I still think they should be doing the job for which they are paid a good salary – which is representing their constituents.”
On whether Mr Hancock should have a chance to return to the Tory fold, he said: “That’s a decision for the chief whip and one of the things I respected when I was chief whip was that former chief whips didn’t tell me how to do my job, so I’m going to let the chief whip make those decisions.”
The comments come as Mr Hancock secured a place in the final of the programme after Mike Tindall became the eighth contestant to be eliminated.
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