Ex-minister Jacqui steps into row over Strictly role
FORMER Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has come under fire online after revealing she is temporarily quitting her role leading the city’s hospitals to take part in Strictly Come Dancing.
With Birmingham on lockdown and hospitals braced for a second wave of Covid, the 57-year-old former MP for Redditch said she would be ‘on the end of a laptop and phone’ but was stepping back from October to focus on the TV show.
She chairs University Hospitals Birmingham, which runs the Queen Elizabeth, Good Hope, Heartlands and Solihull hospitals.
Smith took up the post in December 2013, on an annual salary of £50,000. She also chairs Birmingham Health Partners, which coordinates the research partnership with the University of Birmingham; and is chair of Sandwell Children’s Trust.
Recently she said: “From October I am taking a step back. I talked to hospitals’ chief executive Dave Rosser before I said yes and he was happy for me to go ahead. The response from staff has been brilliant, they are really excited.
“I am incredibly proud to represent them. It has been a horrible time and I will be working my socks off to make them proud of me.”
She confirmed she would not be drawing her salary while absent from the Trust. She later said training was going well, with running and yoga now being supplemented with skipping.
But she said the dancing was still an unknown quantity.
“I’m usually first on the dancefloor if I get a chance but I wouldn’t say I’ll be the most sophisticated – I’ll bring hard work and enthusiasm!”
The reaction to the announcement was less than favourable online, however.
Among comments, Nxx tweeted: “Glad to see you put your vocation first in such a difficult time.”
Kappa Dulay posted: “Jacqui, you must get your priorities right, fame can wait but Covid won’t.”
David Carter said: “Thanks Jackie (sic), it’s only a once in a century pandemic. Have fun won’t you.”
Dr Rosser, CEO of the trust, offered his support: “We are excited that Jacqui has agreed to be in this year’s Strictly. “To have one of our own UHB colleagues starring in one of the mostloved family shows on television is fantastic. We wish her and whoever is lucky enough to be her partner the very, very best of luck. While Jacqui will still be available for advice, she will take unpaid leave from October 1 while she remains in Strictly.”
The award winning TV show would, she hoped, bring some light relief after a horrible year.
She will line up alongside stars including Bill Bailey, Clara Amfo, and HRVY.
The 2020 series will begin in October but will be shorter than usual.