Dorries The Vindictive

One might expect a good Christian to be able to, if not forgive their opponents, at least leave them be and move right along, especially when it is years after the event and redress has already been gained via the relevant laws of the land. But that does not appear to be the case with (yes, it’s her again) Mid Bedfordshire Tory MP Nadine Dorries, and her 2009 action against Damian McBride.

McBride, along with Derek Draper, had apparently discussed – via the Government’s own email system – a story about Ms Dorries that was untrue and defamatory. The emails had been obtained – although he is somehow unable to say how – by the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines at the Guido Fawkes blog, who with his tame gofer, the odious flannelled fool Henry Cole, are admirers of the fragrant Nadine.

Legal action followed: McBride and Draper apologised and paid a sum in respect of the defamation. The former now works for the Catholic Church’s aid agency Cafod, and occasionally contributes articles for publication. This, though, appears not to be a low enough profile for Ms Dorries, who has taken grave exception to the Indy publishing a piece by McBride yesterday.

“This article by a man who abused [his] position and invented venomous lies about Tory politicians for Browns [sic] benefit is a disgrace” she thundered on Twitter. It is? What’s “a disgrace” about it? It’s about the kind of politics with which McBride is very familiar, and therefore equally well informed. It also segues very well into giving him an opportunity to remind readers of how that game is played elsewhere in the world.

And that is where Cafod is involved, so he gets to plug them too. But Ms Dorries is clearly having none of that: “The Independent should be ashamed of itself – if Damian McBride had been a Tory woman, the paper would have excoriated her forevermore ... Nice to see Catholic Church is forgiving though and doesn’t mind giving positions of authority to those who admit lying with devious intent”.

Maybe she should reflect on her friendship with Staines, who has no compunction in lying and spinning (in a way that would make Damian McBride blanch) when it suits him, and Cole, who made his name at Edinburgh University with a legendarily nasty, dishonest and serially defamatory election campaign which he ultimately lost. Just because they are her pals does not wash that baggage away.

And she might also reflect on this attack giving the impression that she (a committed Christian) is deliberately and vindictively going after someone with the express objective of damaging them. Moreover, this is not the only example of Nadine Dorries going after a political opponent after the event, as one acquaintance of this blog well knows. Is it, Nadine?

Something that Mid Bedfordshire voters could do with knowing come 2015.