Matt Hancock consulted girlfriend ‘at length’ before signing up for I’m A Celebrity & was warned it would be ‘high risk’
MP Matt Hancock reportedly asked his PR expert girlfriend for advice before deciding to appear on I'm A Celebrity.
Friends say ex-Health Secretary Hancock, 44, was initially torn about entering the jungle having turned the offer down twice before.
But according to reports in , he sought advice from a small group, including tapping into Gina's specialist public relations knowledge, before agreeing to appear on the ITV show.
A friend of the couple said: “He consulted her at length. They are very much a team.”
They were also a part of the same team at the Department of Health where The Sun exposed CCTV of them kissing under strict social distancing rules.
Hancock was married at the time with three children but has since taken issue with the term 'affair'.
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Speaking to fellow celebs, Hancock said: “I messed up and I fessed up."
“It’s no excuse but I fell in love.”
He also went on to say that Gina will be waiting for him on the TV show’s wooden bridge and that seeing her will be the “best thing about being kicked out”.
The pair first met Hancock at Oxford in the 1990s were Hancock was reportedly smitten from the start.
A contemporary there recalled: “Matt was a bit of a nonentity, whereas Gina was really nice, fun and incredibly popular with the male contingent. Oriel [her college] had this boorish male atmosphere still and she was very adept at dealing with those kind of young men.
“I think Matt, in contrast, was a sort of puppy dog, following her around. This [the love affair] is a case of persistence paying off.”
The West Suffolk MP said he was on the show “for a bit of forgiveness” but celebs like pop culture icon Boy George weren't so sympathetic to his cause.
The Culture Club singer revealed his mum nearly died of Covid during the pandemic and that he could not visit her.
Friends say they warned Hancock about the potential backlash before he jet-setted to the jungle.
One source said: “I told him there were pros and cons to it, and it basically depended on what he wanted to do career-wise over the next decade."
“If he wanted to climb the greasy pole, play the Westminster game, sit around waiting for a call to be a cabinet minister again, and otherwise just be a Tory backbencher for the next 20 years, that he shouldn’t do it."
“But if he wanted a platform to engage with millions of viewers, push a lot of the campaigns he cares about, show what he’s actually like as a person, and didn’t mind probably not serving in government again, then it could be a good opportunity... It was obviously very high risk.”
A source told The Times that they felt sorry for Hancock's ex Martha.
They said: “How does it feel to be her, or one of their three children, as he blithely tells the nation about falling in love?”
“And the problem is, when you cheat on your spouse, you cheat on your family.”
But sources close to Hancock say his children were keen for him to go on the show, and he was there to raise awareness of dyslexia.
A spokesperson for Matt Hancock said: "The second reading of Matt's Dyslexia Screening and Teacher Training Bill is just days after I'm A Celebrity... finishes. By going on the show, Matt hopes to raise the profile of his dyslexia campaign and will use the platform to talk about an issue he really cares about in front of millions of people. Matt is determined that no child should leave primary school not knowing if they have dyslexia.
"Matt has been working on constituency matters this week and show producers have agreed that Matt can communicate with his team if there's an urgent constituency matter while he's on the show.
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"As soon as Matt's time in camp is up, he will return to Suffolk to hold surgeries where he will catch up with his constituents and discuss matters of concern.
"Matt will be making a donation to St Nicholas Hospice in Suffolk, and causes supporting dyslexia - including the British Dyslexia Association, off the back of his appearance. He will, of course, declare the amount he receives from the show to Parliament to ensure complete transparency, as normal."
