STRICTLY Come Dancing co-host Claudia Winkleman has cast her vote for an unlikely dancer in the next series of the show - former Hartlepool MP Lord Mandelson.

Asked to pick a celebrity dancer for the next series of the BBC1 show, she plumped for the former Labour MP.

He would not be the first politician to battle for the glitterball trophy - Vince Cable and Ann Widdecombe have both put on their dancing shoes.

But Winkleman said she was not getting carried away just yet about the new series.

Speaking at the Royal Television Society Awards in central London, she said: "I get very, very excited in July and August."

The star, who is nominated for an RTS award, joked: "It's all very proper and grown up and nicely dressed and I'm in my pyjamas."