Undue airtime is being given to a man whose appalling political decisions were causal in the deaths of thousands of people in the UK. However, the implications of former Health Secretary, Matt Hancock MP entering the jungle as a “celebrity” go beyond this. “Celebritizing” politicians undermines democracy itself.
Upon entering the jungle, Hancock has been subject to ridicule by both sides of the political spectrum. Disappointment was expressed by the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak who felt that it was the responsibility of politicians to earn the public’s respect – which, surprisingly, is unlikely to be earned from munching on the tip of a camel’s penis. Hancock justified his decision to join the show by stating he wanted to “go where the people are” and show the public who he really is (not that anyone asked).
Simply, Hancock is grovelling for forgiveness from the general public after he came under fire for his secret (and against Covid safety guidelines) affair with his secretary, Gina Coladangelo.
And if he really is showing his true colours on I’m A Celeb, it seems Hancock really does have some commitment issues…
Aside from abandoning his constituents during the worst cost of living crisis since the post-war period, Hancock side-lined his prior commitment to speak at The British Dyslexia Association’s fiftieth anniversary, in favour of entering the show. Slurping a maggot smoothie on national television understandably takes precedent over raising awareness of dyslexia…right?
Later on in the series, the former Home Secretary was shown quickly rinsing his hands under water after having touched bird-shit (so much for three verses of “Happy Birthday to you”!).
Displaying his unpopularity amongst I’m A Celeb viewers, Hancock has voted to complete almost every Bushtucker trial. But these are hardly retributions for the atrocities committed under his leadership during the Covid-19 pandemic. In fact, it seems callously audacious of Hancock to accept celebrity-status after his abhorrent conduct during the pandemic, which includes:
The Care Home Scandal: On Hancock’s approval, untested hospital patients were discharged into care homes during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic. This resulted in a devastating rise in morbidity rates in care homes, and has since been ruled by the High Court as unlawful and blatant neglect of some of the most vulnerable people in society.
PPE shortage: During the first wave of the pandemic, frontline workers were forced to make-do with completely inadequate personal protective equipment (PPE). One nurse explained that: “Many of us resorted to buying our own PPE online at hiked up prices – just so our families didn’t have to plan our funerals.” Disgracefully, Hancock remains in denial that there was ever a national PPE shortage.
It was Hancock who announced the launch of England’s completely dysfunctional Test and Trace service
Violating (his own!) lockdown rules, Hancock was caught on camera kissing his aide, Gina Coladangelo. His affair is especially despicable given that so many families and lovers were kept apart by lockdown regulations. During the height of the pandemic, some people were denied the right to kiss their loved-ones goodbye on their deathbeds because they followed the Covid guidelines put in place to protect the nation.
Upon being questioned about his affair with Coladangelo, Hancock made the insipid excuse to fellow contestant, Babatunde Aleshe: “It was really tough. I messed up and I fessed up. I resigned and it’s no excuse but I fell in love, right? That also had a lot of other consequences, obviously.” Frankly, such blatant lack of remorse is more repulsive than watching any bush tucker trial.
However, there is a more sinister element to Hancock qualifying for celebrity-status.
The “celebrity” is a highly contrived, constructed personality projected onto an iconised body. “Celebrity culture” is a phenomenon ubiquitous with capitalist consumer culture whereby the idolisation of celebrities imbue these “celebrities” with the powers to influence trends, opinions, and ultimately the directions of their followers. Simply, celebrities are followed by the public; so “celebrity” should be antithetical to “politician”.
In a democracy, politicians exist to serve, and follow the will of, the people. Therefore, politicians are not, and should never become, celebrities. Introducing politicians into “celebrity culture” risks granting politicians impunity from misconduct, disrupting the politician-public relationship, and compromising the legitimacy of the democracy itself.
Hancock has certainly extinguished what little credibility he had remaining and frankly, he can’t escape the penalties for the political crimes he committed during the pandemic, forever. However, his appearance on the show draws attention to the necessity of remaining vigilant to the “celebritization” of political figures.
