Rylan Clark and Edwina Currie have clashed on Twitter after it was revealed Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak were fined for attending a party that broke Covid rules.
On Tuesday, the prime minister and the chancellor were found to have broken the law with a birthday gathering for the PM in the Cabinet room in June 2020.
After it was revealed they had been served with fixed penalty notices from the Metropolitan Police, who are currently investigating the partygate scandal, Rylan reacted to the news on social media, like many others.
“He’s officially broke the law. That’s it ain’t it?” the TV presenter tweeted.
This sparked an unexpected response from former Tory MP Edwina Currie, who told Rylan to “get real”.
“No, it isn’t. Shouldn’t have happened, but it’s done now. In case you hadn’t noticed, this all happened two years ago,” she tweeted.
Referencing the war in Ukraine – which has been cited by many other serving ministers as a reason why Johnson should not resign over the scandal – she added: “Putin is laughing at us. Get real.”
Rylan admitted he was not expecting a response from the former I’m A Celebrity contestant, who resigned from government in 1988 over the salmonella-in-eggs controversy, joking: “I did not have @Edwina_Currie on my bingo card for this morning.”
He continued: “Edwina, there’s a war, we’re living with Covid, there’s a lot going on publicly and personally. I’m aware when it was. Believe me I don’t need to “get real” it’s a statement. Not an opinion. You stay well, as will I.”
Rylan – who has regularly shared his take on politics on social media and also hosted Channel 4′s coverage of the last general election – said in a separate tweet: “Just a little reminder. Regardless of your upbringing, education, wealth or status, EVERYONE is entitled to talk about Politics as UK citizens.”
The Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two host received much praise from social media users for his comments.
Rylan has previously hit back at “snobby-arsed” critics of his political commentary explaining why he feels “no pressure to fit in a box others want to put (him) in” and why people have been wrong to dismiss him.
Speaking to The Big Issue, he said: “I decided to call them out on it thinking actually, you’re a fucking idiot, because I was a 30-year-old man who’s not in politics and I’m the sort of person you should be tapping into.
“With all due respect, the audience that I’ve got might not necessarily understand Brexit or what’s going on in parliament.”
He continued: “When I explain stuff on Twitter in layman’s terms people message me and go ‘Thanks for doing that, I didn’t really understand what WTO meant or what the Northern Irish backstop involved’.
“You can take the piss out of me all you want, but I’m probably informing the people who follow me more than you’re informing people.”