Nadine Dorries bizarre No 10 rabbit claim in her book raises eyebrows | indy100

Related video: Nadine Dorries calls Rishi Sunak a 'privileged posh boy'

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Details of Nadine Dorries’ upcoming book The Plot about the “political assassination” of Boris Johnson – which The Daily Mail somehow thinks it’s “the most anticipated political book of the year” – have been published in the outlet, with the first outlandish claim concerning a mysterious Tory official in No 10 who allegedly had a pet rabbit cut up and nailed to the front door of his ex-girlfriend’s family home as a “true Mafia style’ warning.

It would certainly go some way towards explaining why Dorries’ book, initially scheduled for a 28 September release, had to be pushed back to 9 November to go through the “required legal process”.

Dorries claims the individual, referred to by the nickname "Dr No" (yes, the name of that Bond villain) was “once in remand in prison for alleged arson”, “loves violence” and has a “secretive past”.

She writes: “When a girlfriend ended their relationship, it is rumoured that he had her little brother’s pet rabbit chopped into four and nailed to the front door of the family home to greet him when he got home from school, in true Mafia style.”

Ominously, the Mail spoke to the brother concerned, and he said: “I definitely had a rabbit, and I don’t know.”

Alongside claiming Dr No would “slip out of the back door” of No 10 to “[seek] out the violent clashes” during demonstrations, Dorries also writes that he deploys “dirty dossiers” as “one of his favourite modes of operation” – and that he tried this against the UK’s shortest-serving prime minister, Liz Truss, according to a source.

“To his credit, Rishi [Sunak] told him not to use it because it would reﬂect badly on him. But Dr No ignored him, because Rishi wasn't in charge, they were.

“Then, when the dossier was considered so appalling that the press didn't use it, it was texted to a journalist that 'we're keeping this ammunition for use at a later date'.

“He meant after [Truss] had won the leadership election. She was in the job only a week, and then another dirty dossier was released about her husband, Hugh, a lovely man,” she writes.

Crikey – and this is someone Dorries says is currently advising Sunak.

It’s also raised eyebrows on Twitter/X:

@NadineDorries The most concerning thing about that story is that someone with that level of functioning exists near the top of Government
— (@)

@NadineDorries And yet they were fine to have as a colleague until you were denied a peerage?
— (@)

@NadineDorries Sounds fun!
— (@)

@NadineDorries @DPJHodges They\u2019ve read the book and that\u2019s the best story they could get from it? \ud83e\udd23 The rainforests are safe.
— (@)

When they said Nadine\u2019s book had to be vetted, I didn\u2019t realise that an actual vet was involved.
— (@)

The Plot is the latest project for TalkTV host and former culture secretary Dorries, after she resigned as the MP for Mid Bedfordshire earlier this year – triggering a by-election which saw Labour overturn a majority of more than 20,000 to get Alistair Strathern elected.

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