Election 2015: Celebrities on the campaign trail

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Joey Essex takes selfie with Nick CleggImage source, Getty Images

In one of the more unusual meetings ahead of the general election Joey Essex met Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg.

The reality television star revealed afterwards that he now knew the party was not called the "Liberal Democats", the leader's surname was Clegg rather than Leg and that he seemed like "an honest guy". Joey Essex is due to meet all the party leaders in the run up to the election.

But it's not just the Lib Dems who are getting ringing celebrity endorsements, actor Martin Freeman has lent his support to the Labour campaign, appearing in an advert promoting the party.

And Sun columnist Katie Hopkins has perhaps accidentally also added momentum to the Labour campaign, announcing on Twitter, that she would leave the UK if Labour leader Ed Miliband is elected Prime Minister. Her comment was widely picked up online by people using #milibandmustwin to suggest this in itself was a reason to vote Labour, with it even being turned into a campaign style poster.

Image source, Katie Hopkins

Celebrity political endorsements however are far from a new phenomenon, with Monty Python star John Cleese filming a three-minute monologue for the Liberal Democrats in 1992. And David Tennant backing Labour in 2005 saying the alternative was "a disaster area".

Image source, AP / BBC

Sir Michael Caine, who says he voted Labour in 1997, later switched his allegiances to the Tories, appearing alongside Conservative leader David Cameron to back plans for voluntary national service for all 16-year-olds in 2009.

Image source, Getty Images

But not everybody has been so keen to lend their name to politics, in 2010 Keane drummer Richard Hughes said he was "horrified" after his band's song Everybody's Changing was used by the Conservatives as part of their campaign.

Written by Kerry Alexandra