This Morning host Holly Willoughby put former Welsh MP Lembit Opik in his place when he attempted to make an expenses dig to the deputy leader of the Labour party, Angela Rayner. Both Angela and Bangor-born Lembit were appearing on the ITV morning show to talk about Matt Hancock entering I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!
Angela argued that Matt, who is the former health secretary and the current MP for West Suffolk, should be in the UK fulfilling his role as a serving MP rather than entering the jungle. Spending a month in the Australian jungle for I'm A Celebrity means that Matt is missing out on important votes in Parliament and he has been suspended from the Conservative Party.
Lembit however, who is a friend of Matt's, argued that MPs often do things that are not in their job title all the time and cited that Angela has appeared on LBC radio. He also attempted to say that Angela putting dresses on her expense claim was the same as Matt entering the jungle.
Holly then stepped in and put Lembit in his place. She said: "We were talking about your friend Lembit and in order to defend him you don't need to trample on somebody else." She also told Angela she "didn't need to be here and defend yourself, that is not role on here" before she scolded Lembit.
Lembit, who was Liberal Democrat MP for Montgomeryshire between 1997 and 2010 and had his expenses scrutinised by the Daily Telegraph in 2009, said, before he was told off by Holly: "There are 11 dresses in your declaration" before both Holly and fellow host Phillip Schofield interrupted. Angela clarified that the dresses were donated to her and she claimed them to be totally transparent.
She said: "11 were donated to me by a company because of the misogynistic abuse that I faced about what I wear in Parliament...I declared them because I didn't ask for them, I didn't request them...that is not me going in the jungle, I didn't ask for that attention."
The 2009 report on Opik's expenses showed that the then-MP claimed £2,500 for a plasma screen TV, which was rejected and for the £40 cost of a summons for non-payment of council tax, which he agreed to repay.
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