Angela Rayner? Ed Balls? Michael Gove? We spill the beans on who almost made it into the I’m a Celebrity jungle in this week’s edition of The Capitalist

I’M A POLITICIAN… GET ME OUT OF HERE

It’s not unusual for MPs to do whatever they can to avoid weekends in their own constituency, but only the truly desperate trek all the way to the Australian jungle. Nigel Farage, Matt Hancock, Nadine Dorries, Lembit Opik, Edwina Currie – filling the backbenches from the outback has a long and ignoble history and, according to rumour, this year it was former Labour darling Angela Rayner who almost joined the ranks.

Speaking on The Rest is Entertainment podcast, journalist Marina Hyde said the former Labour deputy leader was “very far” into talks to join the 2025 lineup, but pulled out last minute after it was “made clear” she would not have a way back to frontline politics if she went on the show.

Arguably, it could have been her fast track, and not just because the fee could have helped in her complicated tax arrangements. Former No 10 spinner-in-chief Giles Kenningham told The Capitalist the jungle would have been a savvy political move for the say-it-how-it-is MP, calling the show the “perfect medium for plain-speaking........

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