Cabinet minister Nadine Dorries has refused to say how much she “communicates” with Boris Johnson in an awkward interview over the prime minister’s battle to save his premiership.
The culture secretary – a fierce defender of Mr Johnson during the Partygate scandal – was asked on BBC Breakfast if she had spoken to Mr Johnson in the past 24 hours.
“Why? Why are you asking me that question?” Ms Dorries asked.
Host Charlie Stayt said: “I’d like to know,” before the minister reluctantly replied: “We’ve communicated.”
Pressed on what they had communicated about, Ms Dorries said: “I’m not going to tell you the extent of my communications with the prime minister. I’ve answered your question. We have communicated. What is your next question?”
The culture secretary went on to say Mr Johnson’s mood was “very positive” and said a “huge amount of change” was under way at Downing Street in an attempt to reset his premiership.
Mr Johnson was hit with a fifth resignation in less than 24 hours when Elena Narozanski, a special adviser in the No 10 policy unit, walked out on Friday.
Tory MP Nick Gibb became the last backbencher to call on the PM to resign amid reports he was pictured holding a beer in a photograph from his June 2020 birthday gathering which has been handed to the police.
Asked about the growing number of no-confidence letters being submitted to the 1922 Committee chair, Ms Dorries suggested those who were against Mr Johnson 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 Mr 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 also told Times Radio that “regicide runs in the veins of my party” – before clarifying that attempts to overthrow the leader was limited to “a small group of MPs”.
The culture secretary also suggested the government was considering legislation to stop comedy people find offensive being shown on Netflix.
Speaking about the Online Safety Bill, Ms Dorries said the new legislation would not cover comments made by comedian Jimmy Carr about the Holocaust in Netflix special His Dark Material.
She said: “We are looking at legislation via the media bill which would bring into scope those comments from other video on-demand streaming outlets like Netflix. So it’s interesting that we’re already looking at future legislation to bring into scope those sort of comments.”
The minister said comment by Mr Carr – under fire over a joke made about the travelling community and the Holocaust – were “abhorrent and they just shouldn’t be on television”.
It was put to Ms Dorries that she had previously tweeted that “left-wing snowflakes” were “killing” free speech in comedy routines.
She replied: “Well, that’s not comedy. What Jimmy Carr did last night is not comedy. And you know, I’m no angel on Twitter, nobody is, but I just would like to say that nothing I’ve ever put on Twitter has been harmful or abusive.
“But that last night, Jimmy Carr’s comments, no one can call that, you know, snowflake or wokeishness, that’s just ... it was just appalling.”
