UK ex-minister punished for participation in reality TV show: Conservative party suspends Matt Hancock

A former health minister of the United Kingdom has been punished by his party for participating in a reality TV show. Former Health Secretary Matt Hancock was suspended from the ruling Conservative party in UK after signing up for the show 'I'm a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here'.

The show sends a group of famous people, often C-list celebrities, to the Australian rainforest, subjects them to trials involving spiders and snakes, and allows the public to vote them out one by one.

Hancock had led the UK's Covid response in the first year of the pandemic. Conservative Chief Whip Simon Hart called Hancock's participation in the programme "a matter serious enough to warrant suspension of the whip with immediate effect".

Hancock will now not be part of the Conservative caucus in the UK Parliament but will still be able to sit as an independent.

Hancock quit as health secretary in June 2021 after breaching coronavirus lockdown rules by having an affair with an aide in his office – violating a ban on different households mixing.

Hancock said he planned to use the show to raise awareness about dyslexia.

(With PTI inputs)

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