Matt Hancock was paid £400,000 before tax by ITV for his appearance on I’m a Celebrity, the channel’s politics editor has revealed.
The former health secretary came under scrutiny for only donating a small proportion of his fee to charity – despite his team using the donation as a shield when he first went in – but he could be charged with a more serious misdeed if Robert Peston’s revelations are to be believed.
He says Hancock received £400,000 for the appearance, not £320,000 as he declared in the register of MPs’ interests.
Asked where the missing money went the MP for West Suffolk refused to comment at first.
Peston says is possible the missing £80,000 went to an agent, but even still, the rules of the Register of MPs interests says “earnings should be given gross, ie before tax or other deductions”.
Hancock later told ITV: “£320k was my earnings. I did not make any deductions and did not receive £400k. The rest went to the agent who made the intro.
“Obviously I checked all this before making the declaration. I need to declare what I received, gross. That’s what I did.”
Peston, you can see here, is not so sure.
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