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Harriet Brewis
Oct 26, 2022
Nadine Dorries struggles with autocue presenting Piers Morgan Uncensored
TalkTV
Nadine Dorries is a… divisive political figure. So it’s perhaps no wonder that she was chosen to fill Piers Morgan’s shoes while he’s off on holiday.
The former Culture Secretary and Boris Johnson stan guest-hosted Morgan’s TalkTv show ‘Uncensored’ on Monday and Tuesday, and viewers’ overwhelming verdict was: don’t give up your day job.
(Actually, plenty of people say she should give that up, too.)
The real stand-out in the Tory MP’s performance came when she attempted to run through what was coming up on the programme, with about as much success as Johnson’s recent leadership campaign.
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Sitting beside her co-host, former Evening Standard editor Emily Sheffield, Dorries began with new PM Rishi Sunak, saying: “‘For a change, a man who is going to clear up a woman’s mess. That’s Rishi’s vow as he enters Number 10.”
Then, with an awkward pause, she stumbled into the next segment about the leader's Cabinet re-shuffle, which swiftly descended into near-unintelligibility.
At least Dorries then admitted: “Sorry, I’ve just completely messed up.”
Viewers were left baffled by the intro, with some sarcastically questioning how Sunak could possibly have left her out of his new top team.
\u201cHow he hell has Rishi overlooked this pure diamond?\u201d— Keith Lewin \ud83d\udc99 (@Keith Lewin \ud83d\udc99) 1666757927
\u201cOh Nadine\u2026 is there nothing you can do without messing up? #NadineDorries\u201d— D E McCluskey - Author (@D E McCluskey - Author) 1666765876
\u201cDo yourself a favour and start your day right by watching this. \n\nAbsolutely top tier comedy entertainment.\n\nThere isn\u2019t a single word of English past the 13 seconds mark. Superb.\u201d— tom dark \ud83e\udd14 (@tom dark \ud83e\udd14) 1666766227
\u201cPoliticians think they can do anything without consequence...whether that's defrauding the public or dabbling in side hustles they should be nowhere near based on their skill sets (/lack of).\n@NadineDorries shouldn't you be focusing on the chaos in your party & your constituents?\u201d— \u2606P (@\u2606P) 1666766407
However, a number sprung to the MP’s defence, reminding others that she is dyslexic so may have had issues reading the auto-cue.
\u201cJust to state the obvious, lots of genuine things to criticise Nadine Dorries over! You don\u2019t have to humiliate a dyslexic for not being able to read from an autocue! I\u2019d like to think we are all better than that\u201d— Oliver Jones-Lyons for FPC \ud83d\udd36 (@Oliver Jones-Lyons for FPC \ud83d\udd36) 1666748900
But others hit back, arguing that this would be a weak crutch to lean on given how many TV personalities and presenters also have the learning difficulty.
\u201c@rhysdotwtf @RegardantAlice @NadineDorries I won't tag him, but James Martin has presented TV shows for years and has been described as "severely dyslexic." So it can be done. Our Nadine might just be sh* t?\u201d— Alice Through The Looking... (@Alice Through The Looking...) 1666725429
Unfortunately for Dorries it wasn’t her only eyebrow-raising performance of the night, with many Twitter users calling out her bizarre attack on Channel 4.
Beginning a discussion with marketing and media expert Patrick Barwise on whether the channel should be privatised, she asked: “Do you think we should be proud of programmes like My Massive C**k?”
The published author pointed out that this was a totally irrelevant question and proceeded to school her on how to have a proper debate.
Thanks to his guidance she was then able to work out what her real point was: “That [Channel 4] has a business model which depends on one sole form of linear advertising, which is unsustainable.”
\u201c"Do you think we should be proud of programmes like 'My Massive C*ck' on Channel 4?"\n\nNadine Dorries debates whether the channel should be sold with author Patrick Barwise.\n\n@NadineDorries | @EmilySheffield | @TalkTV | #PMU\u201d— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@Piers Morgan Uncensored) 1666728614
A bit of coherence and eloquence from the Tory ex-minister – we got there in the end.
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