Why Penny Mordaunt's plunge into Tom Daley's Splash! should be applauded Penny Mordaunt But personally I can't say I share the outrage at Ms Mordaunt's imminent TV outing. She won't be wearing a catsuit, unlike Mr Galloway's infamous appearance on Celebrity Big Brother, and while I'm sure the programme-makers are cock-a-hoop at the prospect of a woman dubbed the sexiest MP parading prime-time in her swimsuit, there's a skill required of contestants in Splash! far beyond what's needed to stay afloat in I'm a Celebrity or Big Brother. Oh, and she'll be donating her fee to a charity renovating a lido in her constituency. Quite apart from that, though, I can think of several reasons why Ms Mordaunt is taking the plunge. It's incredibly hard for a backbench MP to get noticed. Despite the risks, doing a show like Splash! will give Ms Mordaunt a profile she'd never have achieved through years of toiling for the defence secretary, speechifying, blogging and putting down parliamentary questions. And there's something else too. When Ms Dorries swapped the Westminster jungle for the one down under, I had some sympathy for her decision, as I blogged before. Ms Dorries might annoy the hell out of her colleagues, not to mention the Prime Minister, but I for one am always glad to see MPs take a bit of a risk, show a bit of personality to mark them out from the ranks of besuited, career politicians. I don't know Ms Mordaunt personally, but I welcome the fact she's not an identikit politico. She's been a magician's assistant, a Royal Navy reservist - she was even named after a ship, HMS Penelope - and now she's shown that despite ascending the ministerial ranks, she's not imprisoned by the line to take. It's intriguing that Tory women seem to be making a bit of a habit of this reality TV lark. Aside from Ms Dorries, both Ann Widdecombe and Edwina Currie appeared on Strictly Come Dancing, for example. Do Labour MPs get asked and decline? Or do TV bosses think there's more entertainment to be had from the Tories still? If it's the latter, that's ominous for the Conservatives. Because rightly or wrongly it suggests the public can have more of a laugh at the Tories' expense, because they're still seen as far removed from the people they're supposed to represent. Ms Mordaunt has no doubt weighed all this up and concluded the benefits outweigh the risks. Already, judging by this morning's papers, rather more voters have heard of her than they had before. And as the election approaches, that might well be no bad thing.