CULTURE Secretary Nadine Dorries has given yet another car crash interview as she was once again wheeled out to defend the collapsing Boris Johnson administration.
Dorries appeared on BBC Breakfast amid a wave of resignations from No 10 and further Tory MPs sending letters of no confidence in the Prime Minister.
The Culture Secretary began by talking about the planned strengthening of online safety laws. She said that the Government was “looking at legislation” to force giants such as Netflix or Facebook to proactively take down harmful content, rather than waiting for users to report it.
Ofcom will be able to issue fines of up to 10 per cent of annual worldwide turnover to non-compliant sites or block them from being accessible in the UK.
Dorries said such a rule would extend to comments made about the holocaust by comedian Jimmy Carr.
Challenged on previous tweets in which she claimed “left-wing snowflakes are killing comedy”, Dorries said: “Well, that’s not comedy. What Jimmy Carr did last night is not comedy.
“And you know, I’m no angel on Twitter, nobody is, but I just would like to say that nothing I’ve ever put on Twitter has been harmful or abusive.”
In fact, there is a tweet from Dorries - which at the time of writing she has not yet deleted - in which she calls another user a “fuckwit”.
Dorries has used that word more than once, also aiming it at journalist and LBC host James O’Brien. She also once reshared a post calling O’Brien “a hate preacher, a liar, a misogynist, a UK hater and an apologist for Islamist atrocities”.
There are also tweets - again which have not yet been deleted - in which Dorries calls other users a “knob”. She also previously used Twitter to threaten to “nail [a Mirror reporter’s] balls to the floor … using [their] own front teeth”.
O’Brien told The National: “Nadine Dorries has used Twitter to cast aspersions on my mental health, lie about me, insult me in the foulest of language, and call for me to be fired from my job.
“Any moderately intelligent person would understand this to be ‘abuse’ by any definition of the word but, having seen her publicly demonstrate epic ignorance of the simplest matters, I think it’s perfectly plausible that Dorries does not.”
READ MORE: Tory Culture Secretary flounders when confronted with her own abusive tweets
SNP MP John Nicolson (below), who sits on Westminster's Culture Committee, said: “Nadine Dorries has a long history of posting deeply inappropriate—often abusive—content on Twitter. She is not fit to be an MP, let alone the Cabinet Minister responsible for Online Harms legislation.
“She owes her position to the patronage of Boris Johnson and conducts herself to the standards he expects and displays.”
The Culture Secretary has also faced widespread criticism following the BBC interview after she took an overtly hostile tone against an extremely basic line of questioning.
Dorries challenged BBC Breakfast presenter Charlie Stayt as to why he was asking her if she had spoken to the Prime Minister in the past 24 hours.
The presenter asked: “Have you spoken to the Prime Minister recently, in the last 24 hours?”
After a brief pause, Dorries replied: “Why? Why are you asking me that question?”
Stayt replied: “I’d like to know.”
Dorries simply said: “We’ve communicated.”
Brilliant from Charlie Stayt.
— Luke Flanagan (@lukeOT92) February 5, 2022
Nadine Dorries has all the swagger of a Year 7 student answering a teacher back until they realise said teacher will now ring her Mum.
Embarrassing again from this government.#BBCBreakfast pic.twitter.com/HjI0xdOp5O
Appearing perplexed, Stayt went on to say: “I’m really confused. Is that a difficult question? I’m just asking if you’ve spoken to the Prime Minister, in the last 24 hours.”
Dorries repeated: “We have communicated.”
Stayt went on to ask what Johnson had communicated to her, but Dorries declined to go into detail.
She said: “I’m not going to tell you the extent of my communications with the Prime Minister. I mean, I’ve answered your question. We have communicated. What is your next question?”
When Stayt asked about the PM’s mood, Dorries described it as “very positive, extremely positive”.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, which Dorries leads, has been approached for comment.
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