The National: NADINE Dorries never forgets the brave sacrifice of the heroic soldiers who gave their lives in the 11 world wars.

There was of course WW1, tragically followed two decades later by the outbreak of WW2, followed in quick succession by world wars three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 and 11.

You’ll need to consult the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport for the details of these subsequent conflicts as the Jouker came up short while trying to find out more.

We did however find that Britain had been involved in 36 separate international conflicts – none of which quite reached the levels of “world war” – since VE Day in 1945. 

Dorries made the slip while tweeting about the humiliating defeat served to the Tories by the voters of Tiverton and Honiton and the Yorkshire city of Wakefield, jumping to Boris Johnson's defence as you would expect.

READ MORE: Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries's most cringe-worthy moments

She said: “History tells us how useless by-election results are as an indication of absolutely anything at all. Margaret Thatcher would not have won 3 GEs and would have served for a very short time as PM if some of the claims I’ve heard today were based on a shred of substance.

The National: The Prime Minister lays a wreath in memory of the fallen from the 11 world wars Britain fought in, allegedly/Getty ImagesThe Prime Minister lays a wreath in memory of the fallen from the 11 world wars Britain fought in, allegedly/Getty Images

“This gov will remain relentlessly focused and continue to deliver for people during a post pandemic, mid-war, global cost of living challenge which no Prime Minister or gov has faced the likes of since WW11.”

There’s so much wrong with that last sentence even excusing the grammar, that we won’t bother.

Needless to say nasty critics of the Rt Hon member for Mid Bedfordshire seized on Dorries’s use of 11 instead of II as evidence of her lack of suitability for government. 

She has obviously just modernised it, duh. Get with the programme, grandad, we’re downstreaming movies now and making the UK Internet TM the “safest internet in the world”.

READ MORE: Nadine Dorries gaffe shows 'extraordinary ignorance' of her own brief

Numbers can be such a trifling matter when you’re dealing with the biggest collection of crises which are only overshadowed by the horrors of 11 consecutive world wars.

The National:

But here are some which could give Dorries pause for thought: 6144 and 4925. That’s the majorities of the new MPs for Tiverton and Honiton and Wakefield, respectively.

Those MPs who have snatched two sets from the Tories and sparked turmoil in the party.

To return to Dorries’ substantive point (and actual history), Labour and the LibDems made inroads into the Tories’ majority under Thatcher in 1990, but failed to oust the party in the 1992 General Election.

The key difference? Dorries might note that in the intervening two years, the Tories dumped the increasingly unpopular Thatcher and trashed a bloodless, unconvincing Labour leader.