KEZIA Dugdale has dumped a commitment to donate her outside earnings to a motor neurone disease charity. The move will allow her to pocket a hefty fee for appearing on reality TV show I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here.

The former Scottish Labour leader, whose decision to go on the show has infuriated colleagues, used to declare on her register of interest that she gave “any and all” external earnings to MND Scotland. However, the MSP dropped this promise in June and she will keep part of the huge fee she is expected to receive from taking part in the programme.

It has also emerged that Dugdale once criticised Tory MP Nadine Dorries for agreeing to go on the show. In 2012, she tweeted: “David Cameron has been desperate to ditch Nadine Dorries since her election – how daft of her to serve him up a reason on a plate.”

Dugdale, who quit as Scottish Labour leader in August after a dismal spell in charge, has been brutally panned for agreeing to go on the ITV show which involves C-list celebrities living in the jungle and carrying out tasks including eating crocodile penis, kangaroo testicles and camel anus.

Michael Marra, a Labour councillor who was a key aide to former leader Iain Gray, described the decision as “absolutely despicable” and said it was “untenable” for her to stay on as an MSP.

In Labour’s 2016 Holyrood manifesto, Dugdale promised a “new politics” by vowing to “ban second jobs for MSPs”. She also regularly urged Nicola Sturgeon to get on with the “day job”.

Dugdale has a second job – a column for a tabloid newspaper – but she was not criticised because she donates the income to MND Scotland. Her close friend Gordon Aikman died of the disease and her payments were made in his memory.

Until June 20 – just weeks before her resignation – Dugdale declared on her register of interest that all column fees were paid to MND Scotland. However, she went further: “Any and all external earnings will be likewise donated directly to MND Scotland as a matter of principle.”

Her post-tax column earnings are still donated to the charity, but the Sunday Herald can reveal Dugdale’s register of interest was amended in June and the promise to hand over “any and all external earnings” was deleted.

Images: Dugdale's original declaration, and her amendment

A source close to Dugdale said she would donate her MSP salary while in the jungle, as well as a “portion” of the appearance fee. The source added that the register of interest was amended due to “tax liability arrangements” and was unconnected to the TV show.

Dugdale enjoys a £61,778 MSP salary, but she is currently being sued by pro-independence blogger Wings Over Scotland over a column she wrote.

Michael Marra said: “For two years of her leadership, the party tolerated mistake after mistake. It is completely untenable for her to stay as an MSP. This is what happens when you elect children to senior positions. She is debasing herself and the Labour movement.”

His sister, Jenny Marra, Labour MSP and former ally of Dugdale, said on Twitter: “Election to parliament is not a shortcut to celebrity.”

Blair McDougall, a Labour stalwart and former head of Better Together, wrote: “There are many ways to contribute to the struggle for democratic socialism. Flying 10,000 miles to eat kangaroo c**ks with next year’s panto headliners isn’t one of them.”

Anas Sarwar, who was defeated yesterday in the race to become leader of Scottish Labour, added: “Now she has made that decision I want us to have that phone bank running to make sure that she eats every bug possible, is in the pit with the rats as much as possible, so she fully enjoys that experience and is raring to go when she comes back.”

A senior figure in the party, who offered her staunch support as leader, said: “She has no pals left.” Another insider said: “Everyone wishes she would just f**k off.”