COPELAND'S MP has turned down the opportunity to appear on TV show I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here. 

Jamie Reed was invited to meet ITV producers of the show three days after he resigned from the Labour frontbench as shadow health minister. 

Mr Reed was the first MP to stand down in the wake of Jeremy Corbyn’s landslide victory in Labour’s leadership contest. He emailed and tweeted his resignation minutes after the result because Mr Corbyn is opposed to nuclear power – a key industry in Copeland. 

Mr Reed explained why he had turned down the offer to appear on the jungle-survival reality TV show, saying: “I’m a politician, not a celebrity – and I don’t want to be one.” 

Politicians have appeared on the show in the past including former Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik and Conservative MP Nadine Dorries in 2012, who was criticised for leaving her Parliamentary duties to appear on the show.

One of the reasons Mr Reed cited for not doing the show was he imagined it would be hard to fight for the interests of Copeland in the Australian jungle. 

He said: “I’m not a celebrity, I’m not going in there and I’ve politely declined to meet the producers of the show. 

“Copeland is set to become one of the fastest-growing parts of the UK economy; there’s a lot of work to be done and if you really want to see me in late November and early December, I’ll be holding my usual surgeries – but please remember, planning issues are a matter for the council.” 

Mr Reed was also concerned about how his health might hold up out in the jungle. He said: “I briefly considered the complications that would ensue from a vegetarian, type-one diabetic entering the camp. ‘Where’s the fridge for my insulin?’ Catchphrase capable of sweeping the nation, but just imagine the tension as ‘fear and loathing in the outback’ took hold.”