Ofcom has lodged a complaint against Nadine Dorries’ TalkTV show after she named former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, claiming he would be found guilty by the ‘kangaroo court’ privileges committee.
Last Wednesday, the former Conservative Party leader appeared before the parliamentary Privileges Committee to give oral evidence as part of the panel’s investigation into whether he knowingly or recklessly misled parliament about parties held at Downing Street during his tenure as Prime Minister.
He was observed losing his cool at one point, yelling at the chairman of the committee and screaming, ‘People who think we were partying in lockdown clearly do not know what they are talking about.’
Johnson acknowledged to deceiving MPs during several hours of questioning, but claimed he ‘didn’t mean to’ and that ‘hand on heart, I did not lie to the house.’
Dorries stated on Friday, in response to Johnson’s assertions that he lied “hand on heart” over partygate, “I don’t think there was ever a world in which this committee was going to find Boris innocent.”
After Friday Night with Nadine aired on March 24, 52 complaints were received.
Ofcom acknowledged that the complaints were in response to Dorries’ statements on the ongoing Privileges Committee probe against Johnson.
Dorries went on to say: ‘The committee have demonstrated very clearly that they have decided early on to find him guilty.
‘The committee knew that they had not a shred of evidence to prove that he misled with intent, they changed the rules, lowered the bar, and inserted the vague term reckless into the terms of reference.’
She continued: ‘Boris Johnson will be found guilty by this kangaroo court.
‘There is no doubt about that, and that in itself will be a disgraceful and possibly unlawful conclusion with serious reputational consequences.’
The former secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport added: ‘The substantial question is this, will they impose the ten day suspension at the point at which they will find him guilty?
‘Doing so would trigger a byelection and end the career of a former Prime Minister who got us through Covid, got us the vaccines, opened Britain up before other countries, giving us a neck on neck advantage over the rest of the world and led global leaders to support Ukraine against the invasion by Putin.’
She concluded: ‘It is unthinkable that they would do so, but if a committee is prepared to bend the rules and change the course of their investigation midway in order to find him guilty, would you put anything past that committee? I wouldn’t.’
Dorries announced her resignation as an MP at the next general election in a diatribe about Conservatives who drank the Kool-Aid and got rid of Boris Johnson.
She stated that she “loves her job,” but that she must “remove herself” from the “infighting and occasional sheer stupidity.”
The Johnson supporter has not disguised her feelings about Rishi Sunak since he became British Prime Minister, lately referring to him as a “invisible, submarine” prime minister.