A star has well and truly left his couch critic career behind him to .
, who previously appeared on ten seasons of the show with his mum Nikki, dad Jonathan and sister Amy, has been selected as a Labour parliamentary candidate.
The 26-year-old will be going up against Deputy Prime Minister in the constituency of Hertsmere in Hertfordshire.
Confirming his campaign, Josh wrote on X: ‘I’m thrilled and honoured to have been selected as Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Hertsmere.
‘Thank you so much to local members for your support – I won’t let you down.
‘The work to unseat the Deputy Prime Minister starts now!’
Josh has been eyeing up Whitehall for several years and left Gogglebox in 2018 because he had been offered a Cabinet Office job.
At the time he told The Mirror that the door had been left open for him to return, but that ‘the focus is now very much on my job.’
Speaking of his first day on the job, he said: ‘It was really surreal walking through that front door of Number 10.
‘After a few seconds you completely forget where you are…in the heart of Government.’
Josh seemed to have caught the political bug after the two-year job and stood as a Labour candidate in the seat of Chipping Barnet several years later.
Launching his campaign in 2022, he cited ‘reversing Tory neglect on our green spaces’ and ‘pioneering institutional change of mental health support’ among his aims.
If he were made MP for Hertsmere, Josh has pledged to tackle the cost of living crisis, invest in the NHS, build a green economy, improve education, boost the number of social and affordable homes and rejuvenate the high street and town centres.
Josh previously said that his interest in politics came from watching Rob Lowe in The West Wing as Deputy White House Communications Director Sam Seaborn.
Josh isn’t the first Gogglebox star to have dabbled in politics.
The Michaels family left the Channel 4 favourite in 2014 because father Andrew was standing as a UKIP candidate in the general election.
However, the Brighton-based family returned to the show the following year after Andrew, , failed to win the Hastings and Rye seat for UKIP.
The government has not confirmed when the general election will take place but has ruled out a on May 2 when voters will tick ballot boxes for the local elections.
His ‘working assumption’ is it will be held in the second half of this year, though .
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt recently suggested it could take place in October.
The absolute latest a general election can be held – a decision made by the prime minister – is late January 2025. One has to be held every five years.
