FORMER Lib Dem minister Lembit Opik claimed that he might be the only person in the country who backs Matt Hancock’s decision to appear in the TV show I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!
Mr Opik also told GB News he “has it on good authority” Hancock will be able to say “Get Me Out Of There” if he has to dash off on emergency political business.
Asked if Mr Hancock should be on the programme, he said: “Yes, absolutely. I did it in 2010. I wasn’t an MP, but I’ll be honest, I would have done it if I’d been re-elected, not because of the reason that he said about reaching out to the public.
“I did all that for the country in 2010 and it made no difference. Let’s be honest, you don’t go into the I’m a Celebrity to re-engage between politics and the public. But what he should be able to tell you is, politicians make decisions and they have to have some authority to have that relationship with their constituents…
“If his constituents don’t want him then they elect him out, then they vote him out. And it’s not for us to preach in some sanctimonious woke way that this man is a terrible former cabinet minister, and should now be punished and should be sitting in sackcloth and ashes for the mistakes he made during the Covid.”
In an interview during Breakfast with Isabel Webster and Paul Hawkins on GB News, he said: “Whether he was a good or a bad cabinet minister is a different matter to whether you should be in the jungle. And the other thing is, no one can pretend that politicians are banned from reality TV. I did Have I Got News For You, it wasn’t strictly necessary.
“Vince Cable appeared in a cameo in Strictly Come Dancing, I seem to be the only person in Britain defending Matt Hancock, I have to say.
“I have to say that Nadine Dorries did get back to be a Cabinet minister after being in the jungle, so it’s not necessarily a bar.
“I also bet you there’s a break clause if something serious happens in this constituency. In fact, I have it on fairly good authority, that’s the break clause, and he’ll be allowed out to fix that problem. So it’s a matter of judgement.”
