IAIN Duncan Smith will appear in a new television series investigating 'broken Britain' next week, after spending time living on an east London council estate.

The Chingford MP spent a night on Carpenters Estate in Stratford for the show back last year, which takes the politicians out of the Westminster bubble and brings them into contact with ordinary people across the UK.

He was due to spend further nights on the estate, but had to leave early after his wife Betsy was diagnosed with cancer.

Programme-makers hope that their experiences for the four-part series gave the MPs a greater understanding of the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in the country, and appreciate more fully the difficulties they face given the current economic climate.

Mr Duncan Smith founded the Tory thinktank the Centre for Social Justice, which is very influential in developing Conservative party policy on fighting poverty and social deprivation.

Tower Block of Commons starts next Monday (February 1) at 9pm on Channel 4.