Ex-British army officer saves fellow Tory MP from drowning off of Cornwall coast

AN ex commando MP saved a fellow parliamentarian from drowning after he jumped in the sea despite being unable to swim.

Former British Army officer Johnny Mercer grabbed his struggling pal Scott Mann and dragged him to the shore after he got into trouble in the water off Cornwall this summer.

Mr Mann later revealed he was too ashamed to admit to his friend he couldn’t swim.

The 39-year-old former postman and MP for North Cornwall said he was “out of breath and scared” as he tried to float on his back.

He was forced to shout to Mr Mercer, 35, who dragged him to safety in shallow water.

Mr Mann, who is now learning to swim, said yesterday: “Johnny moored the boat to the buoy off the beach and looked over to me and said: ‘Let’s swim in’.

“I looked at the distance between the boat and the beach, working out that I only needed to get half way and I would be able to stand on the sand with my head above the water.

“I threw caution to the wind and jumped in.

“I was ashamed to admit to my friend that I couldn’t do it.”

After Mr Mercer, who once appeared half-naked in a Dove soap advert, helped him into the shallows he staggered up to the beach.

He said he had scared himself so much he threw up.

Mr Mann added: “It seems too stupid to think that it has taken this incident to make me realise how absurd that is.”