Liverpool-born MP, Nadine Dorries, has been suspended by the Conservative party following her decision to take part in the ITV reality show: ‘I’m a Celebrity: Get Me Out of Here’.
The ITV show kicked off last night as the celebrities were welcomed into the jungle with mice in their sleeping bags and hearty dinners of rice and beans.
However, many have failed to see the funny side, including Prime Minister David Cameron, other Members of Parliament and constituents in Mid-Bedfordshire who are angry at the politician’s participation in the show and decision to abandon her post.
Dorries, the daughter of a bus driver, grew up on a council estate in Anfield and attended Rose Heath Primary School and Halewood Grange Comprehensive School before her family moved to Runcorn.
She worked as a nurse for three years in Merseyside and Warrington before making a career change as she stood as the Conservative party candidate for a constituency in Manchester in the 2001 General Election. She was elected as the MP for Mid-Bedfordshire in 2005.
Earning a reported £40,000 for taking part in the ITV show, the 55-year-old has said she will donate her MP’s salary to charity while she is on the show.
Dorries says she has entered the competition so that she can change the way MPs are viewed by the public. She said the ability to communicate with a television audience of 16 million people is what politicians need and stands by her decision.
The Tory MP, who was chosen by the public to take part in tonight’s bush-tucker trial, is joined by nine other celebrities in the jungle including soap stars Helen Flanagan and Charlie Brooks, and boxing champion David Haye.