Former UK health minister draws fire for reality TV stint

By JILL LAWLESS
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Former U.K. Health Secretary Matt Hancock has been suspended by the Conservative Party after signing up to a reality TV show. Hancock led Britain’s response to COVID-19 in the first year of the pandemic. He is to compete on “I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here.” The show sends a group of often C-list celebs to the Australian rainforest, subjects them to a series of icky trials involving spiders and snakes and allows the public to vote them out one by one. Conservative Chief Whip Simon Hart said Hancock was being suspended from the Conservative caucus in Parliament “with immediate effect.”