RESIDENTS in Shefford have had mixed opinions of their MP flying out to Australia for a month to take part in ITV1’s reality TV show I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!

Despite keeping a relatively low profile on the show, Nadine Dorries triggered a storm of outrage when she jetted off to the jungle two weeks ago when she should have been in Westminster or helping her constituents in Mid Bedfordshire.

Kevin Olds from Shefford who called on his MP a week before she flew out to help him with a matter relating to his sick mother said: “It is outrageous that she has gone, she is more into publicity then anything else, she is a civil servant and she should be here. Who are people meant to go to while she is out there?”

Mr Olds who has been living in the area for only a year said she should not be allowed to keep her seat when she returns.

Wendy Pether, proprietor of Carries Cafe in Southbridge Street said: “I can see why people are angry but I honestly think it’s an over reaction.”

Mrs Pether said she liked the way Ms Dorries was behaving in the jungle and credited her for having a go at the Bushtucker trials.

David Broadbent, 18, from Clifton said: “If she was being negative I think it would be wrong for her to hold onto her seat but, she has so far, done well and I think when she comes back should still have her seat.”

Rosemary Simpson, 66, said: “I don’t think she should be there. She should be doing her job. I don’t agree with her being paid for a job she isn’t doing.”

Viv Watson, from Shefford said Ms Dorries should have gotten permission before she decided to go off to Australia. “She has not been loyal to her constituents at all,” she added.

Steve Warner, 64, who has lived in Shefford for 25 years said: “I think Nadine Dorries is quite clever, there are talks of boundary changes, she has made enemies with David Cameron in the past and now she has seen a chance to promote herself as a personality.

“She knows her parliamentary position maybe at risk.”

Mr Warner said he did not think she should hold onto her seat when she returns and added that Ms Dorries’s stint on the show was a gamble.

On Monday Ms Dorries’ daughter appeared on ITV’s Daybreak. Jennie Dorries told show presenters that her mother did ask for permission for a month off from former chief whip Andrew Mitchell.

Miss Dorries said: “She did ask for the month off. She did all she had to do before she left. She arranged everything in her constituency before hand and she declined her invitation for Remembrance Sunday.”

A spokesman for Mr Mitchell has said Ms Dorries did not ask for permission to go to Australia for a month and nor did he give it.