Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries mixed up two Tory MPs with similar names while defending Boris Johnson, doubled-down on the PM's Savile slur and said those who are against Boris are 'Remainers'.
Dorries also engaged in a very awkward interview with BBC Breakfast.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that comments from Nick Gibb and Aaron Bell were “disappointing” but said those in “marginal seats” knew the PM had won them the election.
She was then asked about the 2019 intake on Red Wall MPs – of which Mr Bell is one in his Newcastle-under-Lyme constituency.
But the Culture Secretary said: “So you want to cite Aaron Bell, again disappointing, I’ll talk about Martin Vickers, who’s up in the far North of England in South Tees.
“I’ll talk about Martin Vickers who is out there supporting the Prime Minister, listing on Channel 4 News the other night the huge number of funding and initiatives that he’s delivered in his constituency.”
Martin Vickers is the MP for Cleethorpes in North East Lincolnshire and has been an MP since 2010. He currently has a majority of 21,418.
Matt Vickers is the MP for Stockton South (majority 5,260), in the Tees Valley, and was elected in 2019. He told Channel 4 on Wednesday: “Teesside’s got a lot to be happy about.”
Dorries then doubled-down on Boris Johnson's comments about Sir Kier Starmer not prosecuting Jimmy Savile when he was in charge of public prosecutions.
She said Rishi Sunak was “entitled to his views” over the Prime Minister’s claim about Sir Keir Starmer and Jimmy Savile.
Ms Dorries told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that “anybody who leads an organisation, like the Prime Minister leads the Government or Keir Starmer led the Crown Prosecution Service, when something goes wrong, you take responsibility and you apologise”.
Asked about the Chancellor saying he would not have made the comments, Ms Dorries said: “Rishi Sunak is entitled to his views and you know, he’s entitled to say… make any comments that he wants to.
“What I would say is that when you lead an organisation, you are responsible, the responsibility lands on your desk for what happens within that organisation when you’re leading it.”
Dorries suggested those who were against the Prime Minister were Remainers.
She told Times Radio: “There are a small number of voices, whether they are people who were ardent supporters of Remain, who see this as their last opportunity to reverse Brexit.”
Asked whether the moves against Boris Johnson were a “Remainer plot”, Ms Dorries said: “There are a number of reasons actually, it’s not just one, but that certainly is at play with a group.”
She said it was “important that people don’t get hung up” on a “small number” of MPs.
Ms Dorries suggested those in marginal seats were “working damn hard and they want Boris Johnson in place”.
The Culture Secretary said Boris Johnson tells the truth “to the best of his knowledge” based on advice given to him by aides.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Nadine Dorries was asked about claims made by the Prime Minister about the number of people in work.
She said: “He will have been given by advisers and researchers the fact that there were more people in work than there were at the beginning of the pandemic, not on the payroll.”
She said: “So did he tell the truth when he quoted that? Yes, he told the truth as it was given to him.”
She added: “The Prime Minister does tell the truth.”
“I can personally tell you that the Prime Minister, when he stands at the despatch box and makes quotes like the one you just quoted, is because the researchers and his advisers will have given him that quote, and that’s… and he was truthful, to the best of his knowledge, when he made that quote,” she said.
Nadine Dorries said the Prime Minister was “very positive” when she had communicated with him in the last 24 hours.
The Culture Secretary questioned why she was being asked if she had spoken to the Prime Minister when appearing on BBC Breakfast.
But she said: “What I would say is that the Prime Minister, when he appeared for the (19)22 Committee last week, promised to change and I think anybody who picks up a newspaper or reads a newspaper, sees a television news bulletin, can see that a huge amount of change is under way at present, particularly in No 10.”
She said those speaking out against the PM were “the same names that we continually keep (hearing) cropping up” and were in “safe seats”.
