John Bercow, the former speaker of the House of Commons and one of the most divisive figures in modern politics, has signed up to to appear in the US version of the hit series The Traitors. Anyone struggling to understand how or why probably doesn’t know that video clips of Bercow arbitrating Brexit parliamentary debates and PMQs have made him something of a cult figure in the eyes of American viewers.
The show, set in a castle in the Scottish Highlands, sees players secretly divided into the ‘faithful’ and a smaller group of ‘traitors’. The few, who cannot be trusted, have to eliminate the other contestants to win the £205,000 cash prize. No prizes for guessing which group many of his former Conservative colleagues think Bercow belongs to.
It is hard to avoid the sense that Westminster comes a distant second to the lure of the television cameras
Bercow is someone who has made a habit of making enemies as well as shifting political positions throughout his career. The former Conservative MP for Buckingham was elected Commons speaker in 2009 and held the position for a decade before deciding not to seek re-election in 2019. He joined the Labour party in 2021 but was suspended a year later after a Commons complaints body found he had bullied staff. The idea of a politician making money from a television programme based on who can lie the most convincingly should be troubling, yet elicits barely a shrug because people expect so little of politicians, past or present.
Another parliamentarian far down the rabbit hole of reality television is Matt Hancock, the former health secretary, who is taking part in the Channel 4 series Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins. It has emerged that SAS veterans interrogated Hancock about his breaches of Covid regulations during lockdown: publicity clips from the new series show the ex-Tory MP blindfolded, before being thrown into a cell and subjected to aggressive questioning by the former soldiers.
They are seen shouting and swearing at Hancock, accusing him of ‘weak leadership’. They explained that they wanted to understand his decision-making during the pandemic. Trust me, no explanation is necessary: plenty of voters want to swear and shout at Hancock.
True to form, he initially tries to defend himself but then crumbles, confessing that he let himself down (everything ultimately is about him), and admitting he regrets his ‘lack of leadership’. It is of course too late in proceedings to point out to the show’s producers that Hancock is not really a celebrity, not even of the C-list kind that these shows rely upon. He is a failed politician, nothing more.
Hancock resigned as health secretary in 2021, after it emerged he had flagrantly broken his own Covid-19 guidelines by snogging his aide Gina Coladangelo in his office. ‘I fell in love,’ he later squeaked by way of explanation.
It is also worth mentioning that Hancock is still the serving MP for West Suffolk, paid a salary to represent his constituents. He says he is standing down at the next general election. In the meantime, his constituents just have to put up with his antics on television. He was widely criticised for his TV stint in the Australian jungle on I’m A Celebrity last year, for which he was paid a reported £320,000 fee by ITV. This took place while parliament was still sitting. It is hard to avoid the sense that Westminster comes a distant second to the lure of the television cameras.
Hancock isn’t the only culprit, with more and more MPs and former politicians taking turns on the celebrity merry-go-round. Nadine Dorries, the former cabinet minister, appeared on I’m a Celebrity back in 2012 when she was a backbench MP. Ann Widdecombe and Ed Balls have appeared on the BBC’s Strictly. Who can forget the former MP George Galloway’s humiliating attempt at imitating a cat on Celebrity Big Brother?
Is there anything our elected representatives won’t do for attention or money? Do those like Hancock, who still sit in parliament, have any lingering sense of responsibility or duty to their constituents? No wonder there is such cynicism and anger directed at Westminster.
The old cliche has it that politics is just ‘show business for ugly people’. No longer. What the likes of Bercow, Hancock et al show is that Westminster is merely first base on the lucrative route into show business for ugly and failed politicians.
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