Thread by @docrussjackson

Interesting article on Nadine Dorries, who argued against then voted against gay marriage, dismissing it as a policy pursued “by the metro elite gay activists”. She has since said that her opposition to the gay marriage bill was her “biggest regret”.

theguardian.com/politics/2021/…

She once claimed that a political blog she kept was “70% fiction”, after the MPs standards watchdog criticised it for potentially misleading constituents about how much time she spent in her constituency. A week later she stated that the blog was accurate.

In her conference attack on the @BBC, nepotist & hypocrit Dorries claimed that it was full of people “whose mum & dad worked there”.

But in 2013 she faced criticism for employing two of her three daughters as staff in her parliamentary office at a cost of around £80,000.

“She often speaks without thinking,” says one Tory MP. “She’s a maverick who is better suited to life as a constituency MP, not a Govt minister.”

She RTd a doctored video from a far-right Twitter account falsely claiming Starmer had obstructed the prosecution of grooming gangs.

As someone with a working class background Dorries has "always been a fanatical follower of Boris. Slavish almost, which is ironic, since he went to Eton.”

The editor of Conservative Home, thinks the key to Dorries’s appointment is an acknowledgment of her loyalty.

Dorries attempted to have abortion providers such as Marie Stopes stripped of their role in counselling women (she wanted so-called independent organisations to do the job instead, providing openings for counsellors linked to anti-abortion groups).

theguardian.com/politics/2011/…

Anna Soubry cites an occasion after the European referendum in 2016 in which she (Soubry) gave an impromptu speech to a remainer demonstration on College Green, which went viral. Earlier that evening she’d seen Dorries outside the Smoking Room bar in the House of Commons...

Soubry had an upset stomach & wasn’t drinking, but Dorries wrote a tweet suggesting Soubry was drunk.

Soubry replied stating that it wasn’t true, & asked Norries to delete the tweet. According to Soubry, she declined to do so, even after she was threatened with legal action.

“She finally and randomly deleted the tweet and apologised more than a year later,” says Soubry.

“People talk about the death threats and abuse, but actually that was one of the worst things that ever happened to me as an MP. It really upset me.”

The Online Safety draft bill waters down recommendations to prevent the proliferation of disinformation online & has come under criticism from the wellbeing charity Carnegie UK for offering “exceptional powers” to the culture secretary to interfere with Ofcom’s independence.

It's now been confirmed that Paul Dacre will be given another chance to become chair of the regulator, despite being rejected by an Ofcom interview panel that declared him “not appointable”. The final decision will be taken, in consultation with Downing Street, by Dorries.

“I wouldn’t suggest that competence is currently a key requirement of being a minister or cabinet minister,” says one disillusioned Tory MP. “And there will be a question mark about whether she would have the knowledge or skill to oversee a bill.”