Analysis: Matt Hancock abandoned the Tory party but he's not alone

Matt Hancock sparked all kinds of anger when he signed up to I’m a Celebrity.

The former Health Secretary managed to unite both people angry he allowed Covid patients into care homes and those who didn’t believe in lockdowns in the first place.

Allowed to resign after getting caught breaking the rules he advocated, Mr Hancock left his post in disgrace.

This was a minister who had demanded the public make sacrifices he was not. What’s more, he had been cheating on his wife, which in my informed political opinion, is horrible behaviour.

Former cabinet minister Matt Hancock appears to have given up on being taken seriously.

If the kiss was the car crash, what followed has been akin to a slow motion video of him flying through the windshield.

He’s started wearing a turtleneck, advocated for nonsense like crypto, and got his kit off to go swimming with photographers magically placed to capture it. Gosh how unfair, all this attention.

Now a reality contestant, he’s insisted his work as an MP will still get done, and perhaps rightly accepted his time in politics, at least the frontline of it, is over.

Boris Johnson managed to have affairs, get caught and come back, but he was at least funny.

It is clear Mr Hancock thinks his time may be coming to an end, something more and more Tory MPs are beginning to feel about themselves.

Last week several Conservatives announced they would not be standing at the next election, most notably Will Wragg, Dehenna Davison and Chloe Smith.

These are not small-time backbenchers, but important figures once considered either the present or future of Conservatism.

In Mr Wragg, the party had a principled procedural expert, albeit one who has been a frequent critic of the Government.

Ms Davison was the face of the red wall, a junior minister, and rising star at just 29-years-old.

The Norwich North MP Chloe Smith is a former Work and Pensions Minister. These are big names who have endured the chaotic last few years, seen the polling and thought this was no longer their fight.

Obviously they aren’t debasing themselves on television for money, instead just standing down, but the point remains.

Mr Hancock appears to have decided telly is better for him than politics.

He is not alone in jumping ship.