The former Conservative MP and amateur dancer Ann Widdecombe has confirmed she's to pose naked for the top shelf magazine Playboy.
63 year old Ms Widdecombe, who has previously had a firm stance against pornography, denied that her decision to strip of and let pictures of her be printed in a global publication, was a case of hypocrisy.
"I have never considered my anti-porn agenda to be incompatible with the offer of money, especially when it's in the order of half a million pounds. And as a working woman, I have bills to pay. And because I'm no longer an MP, I can't get the taxpayer to pick up the tab."
The photographs have yet to be taken, but a contract has been signed and a publication date has been set. The pictures, once taken, will appear in the Russian edition in December.
The pictorial will be managed by Playboy Russia's editor Dimitri Lhuzny.
"People have been asking me why I've asked Ann Widdecombe, a short and rotund politician to take off her clothes and pose naked for all and sundry to see. The answer is simple. She'll be appearing in our series called 'Real Women' and most of our readership are middle-aged men, used to seeing ugly, obese women naked. After all, they're married to them."
Ann Widdecombe is not the first British politician to pose naked for a magazine. She joins Sally Bercow, wife of the Speaker of the House of Commons, who stripped for photograph in the London Evening Standard.
And Mr Lhuzny is determined not to let Ms Widdecombe appear just once. "If the set is a success, we're considering asking her to do a dual pictorial, possibly with Bella Emberg."
