Sussex MPs launch parliament bid backing "dodgy dancer" John Sergeant

Following Sergeant's resignation from BBC show Strictly Come Dancing, Tim Loughton and Peter Bottomley have tabled a joint Early Day Motion calling for the House to announce its devastation at his departure and demand his reinstatement to the dancefloor.

The joint bid, which Mr Loughton said he "scribbled out" on the train to London, "calls on the BBC to reinstate John Sergeant on the show immediately and for the veteran political commentator, turned entertainingly dodgy dancer, to dust down his sequins, return to the dance floor and manfully face the music until the British Public, or injury, decides otherwise."

Mr Loughton said he believed the bid would attract support from fellow MPs, some of whom were considering tabling a motion themselves.

Democratic issue

He admitted there was a obviously humourous element to the bid, but said it also addressed the serious issue of democracy and the importance, and relevance, of voting.

He said: "This is a popular light entertainment show which depends for its success largely on the participation of the viewing public, who pay to cast their votes as to who best they want to see entertain them.

"If the public want more John Sergeant then more John Sergeant is what they should have, otherwise it makes a mockery of the whole system of voting.

"The reason that John has attracted so many votes consistently is that the British public love to defy the pundits and back the underdog and here they can see that casting their vote actually affects the outcome.

"After all the recent scandals about TV vote fixing as well as the worryingly low turnout at real elections, this is something that the BBC should be encouraging not suppressing.

"If you can't vote whether a dodgy dancer stays in a television show, how on earth are you going to make a difference bothering to go along to a polling station on voting day?"

What do you think?

Do you support the MPs motion to bring back John Sergeant?

Share your views, comments below, email the Gazette or write in to Readers' Letters, Littlehampton, 34 Beach Road, Littlehampton, BN17 5HT.

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