Get the stories that matter to you sent straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Former Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale will hit the jungle after a shock last-minute call-up to I’m a Celeb.

The MSP, 36, will be flying to Australia this weekend to join campmates including boxer Amir Khan and Boris Johnson’s dad Stanley.

Kezia took over as Labour leader from Jim Murphy in August 2015, after the party lost all but one Westminster seat in Scotland to the SNP.

In July Kezia revealed she is in a relationship with Holyrood rival Jenny Gilruth, SNP MSP for Mid Fife and Glenrothes, who was voted in in the 2016 Scottish Parliamentary election.

It came after Kezia split from long-term partner Louise Riddell last Christmas. The women, who had been together for nine years, had got engaged just five months before their break-up.

She quit as leader in August after two years in the job, but said she would stay on as a backbencher.

(Image: ITV)

Kezia said it was time to “pass on the baton” to someone else with “fresh energy, drive and a new mandate” and insisted she was leaving her party in a much better state than she found it.

The former boss said she wanted to give her successor the “space and time” to prepare for the next Scottish Parliament election in 2021.

Her interim replacement Alex Rowley was suspended by the party’s parliamentary group this week after it was revealed abusive texts he had sent a former partner, with economy spokeswoman Jackie Baillie taking over until the permanent leader is revealed.

(Image: SWNS)

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

Her shock addition to the smash ITV show has triggered outrage – five years after MP Nadine Dorries was blasted for ‘abandoning’ voters.

Dugdale’s Labour colleague Jenny Marra MSP for north east Scotland tweeted: “Election to parliament is a privilege to serve and represent people.

“It’s not a short cut to celebrity.”

The Lothian MSP – who gets a salary of around £60,000 – will also leave her constituents without a representative while she is Down Under.

Earlier this week Kezia hosted a number of back-to-back constituency advice surgeries – thought to be a ploy to avoid criticism over those she will miss in the coming weeks.

Last night Labour sources suggested her decision to go on the popular show made her position as an MSP untenable.