Nadine Dorries caused the nation to do a collective spit-take when she claimed WiFi problems were behind chancellor Rishi Sunak being slower to send a message of support of Boris Johnson than other ministers, after the PM apologised for attending a lockdown party.
Speaking on Channel 4 News, the culture secretary defended Johnson after he admitted he attended a Downing Street garden party in May 2020, saying he believed it was “a work event”, and said the only reason Sunak - who didn’t tweet his support for the PM until after 8pm on the day of the apology - was slow to act, was because he was in Devon, with bad signal.
She said: “The chancellor was on a long planned visit down to Devon on the coast where, as we all know, the signals - the Wifi and broadband - which is something that the MP for that area that he was with Selaine Saxby is constantly lobbying for.
“We know it doesn’t have great signal down there, we know that it’s a pre-arranged visit.”
When asked why it had taken Rishi Sunak 8 hours to back Johnson, Nadine Dorries blames the Wi-Fi in Devon. pic.twitter.com/yz3PjBB8IJ
— dominic gamson (@draiggoch99) January 13, 2022
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It comes after Johnson admitted he was one of the attendees of a garden party in May 2020, which was organised by his principal private secretary, Martin Reynolds. A leaked email to ITV News revealed Reynolds invited some 100 members of staff to the ‘BYOB’ drinks party because they had been working “hard” and because the weather was nice.
This was at a time in which people were only allowed to meet one other person outside - and at a distance, but Johnson said he believed “implicitly” that the event was in the rules and his office said he had not been made aware of the email and so thought it was “a work event”.
Unplacated, many politicians and members of the public thought his apology was hollow and called on the PM to resign.
So as the day progressed, ministers came forward either over broadcast interviews, on WhatsApp groups or on Twitter to support Johnson and say versions of “Johnson’s fine to booze it up actually, and let’s just wait for Sue Gray’s findings”.
But after minutes ticked by and there was still no word from Sunak, people wondered if he would break ranks.
He eventually tweeted the following, but people still wondered if his heart was in it:
I’ve been on a visit all day today continuing work on our #PlanForJobs as well as meeting MPs to discuss the energy situation.
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) January 12, 2022
The PM was right to apologise and I support his request for patience while Sue Gray carries out her enquiry.
If Dorries is to be believed, the chancellor was up for defending the PM earlier if only there had been good internet available. But reacting to her comments, people thought her claims were pretty ridiculous:
Nadine Dorries blames the 'poor signal' in Devon for Sunaks late tweet about the PM.
— Lovely Socialist 💚 (@LovelySocialist) January 13, 2022
This might be deepest darkest Devon but we do have the internet, wifi and mobiles.
The public are not idiots, even if our MPs are.#c4news
Nadine Dorries blaming dodgy Dorset WiFi for Rishi taking all day to tweet his support for the PM on @Channel4News. Ha ha pic.twitter.com/h1CrqKaTLV
— Dom Burch ⤴️ (@domburch) January 13, 2022
I worked in the hotel that Sunak dined in, I have told Nadine that if she needs to check, my Instagram has lots of pictures of the hotel surrounds mostly posted with the hotel's very good WiFi service but some on the phone signal
— John 💜 NHS supporter (@nobbysoldboots) January 13, 2022
There's also photos posted from Ilfracombe
Nadine Dorries says that Rishi Sunak didn't have good Wifi signal and that's why he didn't tweet support earlier. Such nonsense.#channel4news
— Daniela Nadj (@DanielaNadj) January 13, 2022
Ok.. that’s enough! Just heard @NadineDorries on @Channel4News blame the signal in Ilfracombe for the reason Dunak was out of comms yesterday. Talk about desperate!! Great questions @cathynewman
— Deborah Meaden 💙 (@DeborahMeaden) January 13, 2022
Nadine Dorries has just claimed on Channel 4 News that the only reason the Chancellor hasn’t defended the PM is that he was in Devon and there is no WiFi in Devon
— Red Sky At Night (@redskyatnight) January 13, 2022
Rishi Sunak couldn't send out his support for Johnson because they have poor WiFi in Devon say Nadine Dorries 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣#C4News #DowningStreetParty
— Andy Garden 🤷♂️🌏 (@AndrewFellow5) January 13, 2022
I am writing this on parchment in rural Cornwall, I hope that you will receive my reply to your tweet before the end of the year.
— techacad (@techacad) January 13, 2022
My favourite thing about this bonkers Nadine Dorries interview is she appears to be a force ghost like Obi-Wan in Empire Strikes Back https://t.co/aZfxHt7jEk
— Willard Foxton Todd (@WillardFoxton) January 13, 2022
According to broadband comparison website, Broadband Exposed, the fastest broadband available in the Ilfracombe area has an average speed of 67Mbps. And Which? says the average general broadband is around 11Mbps.
Meanwhile, we doubt Sunak is without 4G so could have probably tweeted something out even if he didn’t have WiFi.
Overall then, Dorries comments seem a bit of an odd thing to say.
