Nadine Dorries' Defence Of Boris Johnson Triggers The Most Brutal Response From Critics Yet
Nadine Dorries jumped to defend Boris Johnson following his rather tumultuous hearing in the front of other MPs over partygate on Wednesday.
The ex-PM was hauled in front of the parliamentary privileges committee as part of the investigation into whether he had deliberately misled the Commons.
Johnson had repeatedly claimed no Covid rules were broken within Downing Street at the height of the pandemic, but he – among others – was later fined for breaching the restrictions.
The reaction to his ill-tempered appearance was not very positive, overall, with even Tory MP Caroline Nokes declaring “he’s finished” in the aftermath.
Still, Dorries, who was the culture secretary in Johnson’s government and a particularly outspoken ally of his, made it clear that the former prime minister remains in her good books on Twitter – even as backlash against him grew.
Responding to one tweet questioning why Johnson claimed these gatherings “had to happen”, she wrote: “Because the role of a leader during a crisis is to keep morale high amongst those who were working 17hr days 7/7 as morale slumps.
“No.10 was the engine room of the country, it was important to keep people turning up and working and saying goodbye to someone who was leaving was an act of good crisis leadership and management.”
Chaos then ensued, as critics rushed to quote-tweet her words and remind her of the lockdown rules the general public, especially those working in hospitals, during Covid had to face.
Deluded. Disingenuous. Dishonest.
— James Mitchinson (@JayMitchinson) March 22, 2023
Nadine Dorries is a sycophantic fool. Millions of people worked flat out during the pandemic, without feeling so entitled as to break the rules. The role of a leader during a crisis is to do the right thing, not to do as they please. https://t.co/ObJTJq51Eu
In other words: “the Tory government deserved special exceptions not available to the rest of us” https://t.co/7cCSfyepBS
— Miffy (@miffythegamer) March 22, 2023
Nadine doing her best to completely wipe out the Conservative party by continuing to show zero empathy for all the people who were put in lockdown. https://t.co/wrtgBkeo8f
— Steve Analyst (@EmporersNewC) March 22, 2023
Yeah Nadine, everyone else was just slobbing around in board shorts and flip flops doing naff all. Jesus. https://t.co/EYU8NoIyEL
— Forza Bahab (@Forzabahab) March 22, 2023
I don't know if anyone has explained this to you yet Nadine, but a quite a lot of us actually wanted to say goodbye to people who were leaving - our lives forever - and we obeyed the rules instead. https://t.co/6GQTq8SMRy
— THE SECRET TORY - CBE ???????? (@secrettory12) March 22, 2023
Sorry no. Intensive care was the engine room and they didn’t get food or loo breaks. https://t.co/hc08JytrPo
— Fiona-Natasha Syms (@fifisyms) March 22, 2023
Yeah if only doctors, nurses, porters, ambulance drivers, care home staff had worked as hard then maybe they’d have been entitled to parties too https://t.co/GN3AGOROUA
— Jon Sopel (@jonsopel) March 22, 2023
There is nothing more predictable than Nadine defending her beloved Boris. https://t.co/8UI2sP906o
— Prof Paul Bernal (@PaulbernalUK) March 22, 2023
I don't know if anyone has explained this to you yet Nadine, but a quite a lot of us actually wanted to say goodbye to people who were leaving - our lives forever - and we obeyed the rules instead. https://t.co/6GQTq8SMRy
— THE SECRET TORY - CBE ???????? (@secrettory12) March 22, 2023
We worked that in hospitals and we couldn't even have a pizza in the same together Nadine. Jog on. https://t.co/XgbZbZ3VKh
— Dr Philip Lee (@drphiliplee1) March 22, 2023
me arriving to the emergency department shop floor tonight because NHS emergency care is in crisis and I’m one of the more senior doctors on overnight so gotta provide leadership and morale, ta Nadine x https://t.co/60APWTETBGpic.twitter.com/O7iVQRu8qI
— Russell (@Medic_Russell) March 22, 2023
Once the hearing was finished, the Tory MP tweeted again: “Boris Johnson very clear today.
“Not sure there is a reasonable person in the land who would think that the committee could do anything other than totally exonerate him and not before time either.”
Twitter didn’t hesitate to point out the comments for this tweet were turned off.
So sure this is how majority of us feel that she's turned off comments@NadineDorries
— Lynne Caulfield @conduit ???? ???? ???? ???? ???? (@LynneCaulfield1) March 23, 2023
Deluded! https://t.co/Z6DQhovZMk
"Not sure there is a reasonable person in the land who would think that the committee could do anything other than totally exonerate him"
— Irritated llama (@Irritatedllama) March 22, 2023
And yet, you've turned off replies, so we can't test the theory! ???? https://t.co/hYLifB1bhd
She's so confident of her appraisal, she's blocked anyone who might be disagreeing with it https://t.co/rQ2sV40JK6
— Dave Hargreaves (@DaveH40126317) March 22, 2023
Then there was the backlash against a much later tweet, where she wrote: “It was the 20-year anniversary of the Iraq invasion this week.
“Did Tony Blair at any time face the scrutiny that Boris Johnson has repeatedly been subjected to both at the dispatch box and before committees?
“No, of course not. He was a Labour PM and a remainer. #Exempt.”
Twitter was quick to point out that there were, in fact, two prominent reports into the war: the 2003 Hutton Inquiry and the 2009 Chilcot Inquiry.
For 18 of those twenty years, Nadine Dorries has been an MP, at a cost to the taxpayer of several million pounds, yet she has still somehow never heard of the Hutton Inquiry, or the Chilcot Inquiry, which is still not even in the top ten most stupid things about this tweet. https://t.co/6oCt58Pz0j
— Tom Peck (@tompeck) March 22, 2023
Most stupid tweet Nadine Dorries ever put out?
— Edwin Hayward ???? ???? (@edwinhayward) March 23, 2023
There was the gigantic Chilcot inquiry, over 2 million words long, and of course the Hutton inquiry too.https://t.co/L4MonWlEQShttps://t.co/MFnFHDk0Ew
Nadine, as usual, is nowhere near what is considered reality https://t.co/1n4TyfyAnS
— Bill Walsh (@MeatBadness) March 23, 2023
literally a 2 million word report on it, nadine https://t.co/lJvRaWj62j
— harryfre (@harryfremantle) March 23, 2023