Following the decision of Bedfordshire On Sunday to stop
being quite so fawning towards Tory MP for Mid Bedfordshire (yes, it’s her again) Nadine Dorries, and
the picking up of the story by first the Maily Telegraph and then the Daily
Mail, the fightback has begun. Sadly, though, this appears to have fallen
flat amidst more attempts at projection and even a whiff of paranoia.
Youse camera is stalking me again!
Ms Dorries’ daughter Philippa has reacted angrily to the
revelation that she is being paid as her mother’s office manager while also a
law student, telling
the HuffPost UK “The allegations that I am paid £39,000 a
year whilst at ‘university’ is completely untrue, libellous and defamatory”
which would be a sound defence except that nobody has suggested either that
figure, or that it was earned dishonestly.
The salary band for her post – which does not appear to have
been advertised beforehand – is “up to
£39,999”. She works pro-rata, and her mother has already Tweeted “I love the words ‘up to’ in the press today.
They wouldn’t write ‘half of’ would they”. As the “up to” number was £39,999, that’s as near as dammit an admission
that Philippa Dorries is getting around £20,000.
OH WHAT A GIVEAWAY
And, if the higher figure is “completely untrue, libellous and defamatory”, then why is the
Dorries family not taking the deeply unsavoury Richard Kay of the Mail to the cleaners over his headline “Now
Dorries' student daughter is dating MP whose father's millions will go nicely
with her £40,000 salary from Mum”? Kay claims there are reports that
this figure is being paid, which there have not.
Perhaps that is because a siege mentality appears to be
taking over in the Dorries camp. As one Tweeter pointed out to her “I would suggest this could be your
punishment for daring to belittle Cameron and Osborne” she replied “‘sources’ say you are right, but I couldn’t
possibly comment”. But a little thought applied to the origin of the story
shows that this is most unlikely.
They're not coming to get her
It’s true that the Maily
Telegraph has a seriously sceptical approach to Nadine Dorries, and that it
has published a range of copy critical of her in the past. The paper is also a
reliable conduit for Tory propaganda. But the story originated in her own local Sunday paper, not the Tel. The idea that the PM and Chancellor
would have them fed that on the off chance of publication is ludicrous.
So what of Ms Dorries’ “sources”?
That may just be another of those who tells her what she wants to hear, like
that she’s one whinge away from seeing off Commons Speaker John Bercow. The
reality is that Nadine Dorries is clutching at straws: the employment of
relatives who are also students inevitably arouses suspicion in the wake of the
Derek Conway business. That is all.
And she’s not paranoid, as nobody is out to get her. Or are they?
2 comments:
As I recall, the salary band wasn't "up to £39,999", it was "£35,000-39,000". So no, they really wouldn't write "half".
So... she's been making comments about things being defamatory, libellous and all-else when she doesn't want to answer to justifiable criticism. The things she says this about are becoming increasingly bigger and/or publicly known. At what point do you think she will start to demonstrate awareness of the issues with this?
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