Labour MP Jess Phillips was paid £15,000 to host a single episode of Have I Got News For You.
The MP for Birmingham Yardley appeared on an episode of the popular show in December 2021.
Ms Phillips hosted the show, which aired on December 10, alongside panellists Jon Richardson and Hannah Fry, and team captains Paul Merton and Ian Hislop.
Now The Mail On Sunday has revealed that Ms Phillips was paid a whopping £15,000 for the appearance, which she received for 12 hours work.
Ms Phillips’ payment is available to view public on the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, and comes from Hat Trick Productions ‘for presenting Have I Got News for You’.
However, a source implied that the idea of Ms Phillips having worked on the show for 12 hours was ‘hilarious’ as no presenters work on the script, ‘they just get handed it’.
‘Scriptwriters start writing Monday lunchtime and finish on Thursday night. Normal recording time is about two to two-and-a-half hours,’ the source told the newspaper.
Ms Phillips was approached for comment by the Mail on Sunday and accepted that £15,000 is ‘a lot of money’ but believes ‘it’s the standard fee’.
‘I didn’t negotiate it. The shoot is about three hours, but as a presenter you are there all day running through, rehearsing with the autocue. I’m not sure this was because I am a novice or it is standard.’
Should Ms Phillips have been paid the amount for a full 12 hours work, she would have made an eye-watering £1,250 an hour on top of her £81,932 salary as an MP.
The Labour MPs’s stint as guest presenter was her fifth time on the show but first in the host’s chair.
She has appeared on several TV shows in recent years, including competing on Celebrity Bake Off in 2019, alongside comedian Johnny Vegas, Olympian Katarina Johnson-Thompson and rapper Big Narstie.
Credit: Original article published here.You can read this post on My Celebrity Life.