I’m an Attention Seeker – Get Me Out Of Here!

So, everyone, did any of you so much as give a thought to watching the new series of ITV’s I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here? No, neither did I. But there was a great certainty being peddled by The Usual Suspects – not unlike that great certainty in the USA last week on the right that Mitt Romney would be elected – that anyone finding adversely on the behaviour of one particular MP would tune in.

May be partially censored. Thankfully

That MP was of course (yes, it’s her again) Nadine Dorries, currently suspended from the Tory Party for piling off to Australia without letting the whips’ office know beforehand, although she had told the serially clueless Tim Montgomerie of ConHome well in advance. Thus the priorities of the member who may not be representing Mid Bedfordshire for much longer.

The advance notice provided exclusively to Monty also extended to a special article for ConHome – that’s in addition to her usual contributions for the site – with the sub-heading “Nadine Dorries submitted this piece to ConservativeHome a week ago, under embargo”. Christ on a bike, this is pathetic. Does Monty think he’s running an alternative Government or operating a division of MI6?

But on to that ConHome contribution: here, Ms Dorries tells that she “seized upon” the opportunity to be on the show, that its last series had an audience of 12 million per show, and that “if that is where ... people are, it’s where politicians need to be too”. She may also “get to talk about a twenty week limit for abortion”, and “the chance to big up Boris ... it is a publicity gift”.

Now, going once more into Jon Stewart mode, two things here. As anyone who has been following the debate about regulation of the press will know, broadcasters are bound by Ofcom rules, which include a duty of impartiality. What Ms Dorries is suggesting, unless one or more of the other contestants is also going to debate in equal measure (unlikely), would breach the code.

So anything of that nature is probably going to be edited out. Moreover, her promise to donate her MP’s salary for the duration of her stay in the jungle could fall foul of rules against contestants buying votes (a longer stay meaning more money for those who would benefit). And there is also the inconvenient matter of the discovery made by Rupe’s downmarket troops at the Super Soaraway Currant Bun.

That is that Ms Dorries has signed up with a showbiz agency, where she is described not as an MP, but a “writer, commentator, TV/Radio personality”. Were I one of those at her local constituency association considering their opinion of her future suitability as their representative, that might cause me to stop and wonder just whose interest she was intending to serve.

Because it seems Nadine Dorries is in it merely for Herself Personally Now.