Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries is facing an investigation after a local councillor reported an alleged tweet in which she made a jibe about his manhood. John Morris, a Conservative councillor on Huntingdonshire District Council, flagged the post to the Parliamentary Standards Commission after it was brought to his attention earlier this week.
The tweet, sent in 2015, was a response to Morris asking Dorries if she had 'drunk too much wine last night' after she called former Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown 'the most self important, up his own backside, failed politician in Westminster'. Dorries replied: 'Are you just a misogynist with a small d***?'
Morris, who represents Brampton and Hinchingbrooke, said he was 'appalled' by the remark. He told the Ely Standard: 'I know Nadine Dorries is thought of as a bit of a character and has a reputation for shooting from the hip, but it is appalling. Misogyny should be taken seriously and this tweet serves only to devalue the real issue.'
While Morris does not want Dorries to lose her job, he expects an apology. He added: 'It is more than ironic that at a time the government is working to pass its Online Safety Bill, which seeks to introduce controls and punishments for online abuse, at the same time the Secretary of State for Digital is herself dishing out online abuse.'
This is not the first time Dorries has faced criticism over her tweets. In 2013, she threatened a journalist who questioned her daughter's secretarial role, and during a recent committee hearing, she was challenged over calling a radio host a 'public school posh boy f**k wit'. Dorries defended her remarks, citing the abuse she receives as a female politician.
