The Conversation (0)
Politics
Greg Evans
Sep 16, 2021
The appointment of Tory MP Nadine Dorries as the new secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport has prompted much criticism and backlash after several of her old tweets and quotes resurfaced.
The 64-year-old member of parliament for Mid Bedfordshire replaces Oliver Dowden in the role, who was promoted to chairman of the Conservative Party as part of Boris Johnson’s cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday.
Dorries, who has written several novels, was a firm supporter of Brexit and was previously the minister for mental health but this new role has brought to light several quotes and tweets that MP has shared in recent years.
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One tweet that was widely shared came from December 2017 where she accused “left-wing snowflakes” of “killing comedy, tearing down historic statues, removing books from universities, dumbing down panto, removing Christ from Christmas and suppressing free speech.”
Left wing snowflakes are killing comedy, tearing down historic statues, removing books from universities, dumbing d… https://t.co/dL6AKX9jnK— Nadine Dorries (@Nadine Dorries) 1514372564
Also from December 2017, Dorries strangely boasted about her interns using her logins to access her computer, which is slightly concerning now that her new job now involves cyber security.
My staff log onto my computer on my desk with my login everyday. Including interns on exchange programmes. For the… https://t.co/EOGoIxvEBy— Nadine Dorries (@Nadine Dorries) 1512237800
Nadine Dorries now responsible for Cyber Security... https://t.co/EmzFoN7jgA— Dr Rosena Allin-Khan 💙 (@Dr Rosena Allin-Khan 💙) 1631721486
From May 2013, she threatened then prime minister David Cameron by saying that he stood the chance of losing 50 seats if he continued to push for sex-same marriage.
Gay marriage comes back to Parliament in 10 days If Cameron wants to lose Conservative party fifty seats, he must keep on pushing through— Nadine Dorries (@Nadine Dorries) 1368263801
In 2012, she also reportedly claimed that she had never met a gay couple that wanted to marry.
In 2012, new Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries claimed that she had never met a single gay couple who wanted to marr… https://t.co/rihYrXQ9S6— Benjamin Cohen (@Benjamin Cohen) 1631722045
Also from 2013, she complained that she had been called “racist” after saying that former Labour MP Chuka Umunna looked like ex-boxer Chris Eubank. Labour’s David Lammy called her appointment “disappointing” in light of this tweet.
.@BorisJohnson has booted out @GavinWilliamson who could not tell the difference between Maro Itoje and Marcus Rash… https://t.co/ZSTzPJMPtm— David Lammy (@David Lammy) 1631724937
On similar lines, Dorries was criticised in February 2019 after she said that journalist Ask Sakar and former Labour candidate Faiza Shaheen “looked the same” and that she had gotten confused because of their “accents“.
Anyway congratulations to Penny Mordaunt - I mean, Nadine Dorries - to her promotion to Culture Minister. https://t.co/xJdlshgLnl— Ash Sarkar (@Ash Sarkar) 1631723300
In August 2018, she claimed that Boris Johnson “didn’t go far enough” in his controversial article where he compared Muslim women who wear Burkas to “post boxes” and “bank robbers.”
The government should. No woman in a liberal, progressive society should be forced to cover up her beauty or her br… https://t.co/kfn88hjtMq— Nadine Dorries (@Nadine Dorries) 1533643964
In addition, Dorries has also shared several tweets that promoted Islamophobia including one from the now-suspended account of far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon aka Tommy Robinson.
ICYMI Nadine Dorries, the new Culture Secretary has: 1. Shared tweets by Tommy Robinson 2. Asked Sadiq Khan about… https://t.co/gbLPhlDh2J— Miqdaad Versi (@Miqdaad Versi) 1631727244
She had also singled out radio host James O’Brien, who she called a ‘public school posh boy f**k wit’ after he had blocked Dorries on Twitter.
So hard to pick a favourite but this has got to be a contender. https://t.co/lHoYeRhFSJ— James Oh Brien (@James Oh Brien) 1631724128
Aside from the resurfaced quotes, Dorries’ appointment has been widely lambasted on Twitter by politicians and members of the media alike.
The appointment of Nadine Dorries as Culture Secretary is final confirmation (if you needed it) that we do indeed h… https://t.co/UCGSBMHs8I— Anna Soubry (@Anna Soubry) 1631721876
Nadine Dorries as culture secretary? Satire is dead #Reshuffle— Caroline Lucas (@Caroline Lucas) 1631722895
The Arts are, at their core, about empathy. Nadine Dorries is now Culture Secretary.— Stephen Mangan (@Stephen Mangan) 1631731182
If Nadine Dorries is the best we can do as Culture Secretary then we're in even more trouble than I thought. What a shambles.— Matthew Stadlen (@Matthew Stadlen) 1631726068
When you realise that Nadine Dorries has just been appointed Culture Secretary by a man whose favourite film is Vin… https://t.co/jCJt96J8S6— Otto English (@Otto English) 1631724961
indy100 has contacted Dorries for comment.