MP 'dismayed' Gamu cannot promote charity single

Lib Dem, East Dunbartonshire MP Jo Swinson has expressed dismay that X Factor star Gamu Nhengu cannot promote her Christmas charity single because of her contract with the ITV show.

Yesterday Scottish MP Jo Swinson said in a Commons motion that she was "dismayed that despite this act of charity on her part, Gamu has been prohibited from promoting the single by her contractual obligations to the television show The X Factor on the basis that the Aberlour single is in direct competition with the show's Christmas number one bid".

The single Where Will You Sleep This Christmas? will be competing against X Factor's own contender for Christmas number one, and Nhengu's contract with the show means she is barred from promoting the song, the MPs said.

She urged the House to "support and promote the success of this record" when it is released on December 13.

The singer who lives in Clackmannanshire with her family after arriving from Zimbabwe five years ago was eliminated from the show by her mentor Cheryl Cole but has teamed up with Scottish children's charity the Aberlour Child Care Trust to release a Christmas single.

Nhengu and her family are currently awaiting the outcome of an Immigration Tribunal held in Glasgow last week when a Home Office representative said the case would be reconsidered and a "fresh decision will be made in due course".