Cabinet minister Nadine Dorries has been criticised for sharing a mocked-up image of Rishi Sunak stabbing Boris Johnson in the back with a knife.
An MP branded the retweet “dangerous” less than 10 months after a Tory, David Amess, was stabbed to death in his constituency. The digitally altered image of ex-Chancellor Mr Sunak as Brutus, stabbing the PM as Julius Caesar, was tweeted on July 29 by a ‘LizForLeader’-supporting Twitter account.
Culture Secretary and Boris Johnson supporter Ms Dorries then retweeted it on Saturday. The message alongside the photo said: “He is running to become PM. His name is @RishiSunak.”
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Rishi Sunak has been accused by Tory members of betraying Johnson after he resigned, then launching a leadership bid, reports The Mirror. But Sunak backer Greg Hands told Sky News: “It is not even a year since the stabbing of Sir David... so I think this is very, very bad taste, dangerous even. I do find it distasteful and I do find it, less than a year after the stabbing of our colleague, in very, very poor taste, even verging on dangerous."
MP Jacob Young, who backs Mr Sunak, retweeted a message saying: “Secretary of State retweeting this. I’ll let you be the judge of how it comes across”.
In a tweet shared by Tory Simon Hoare, the grassroots Liberal Conservative campaign wrote: “No MP should be Retweeting a post like this. Especially a Cabinet Minister and especially given two MPs in recent times have been murdered by extremists. @NadineDorries should delete this. This is not how we should conduct our politics or discourse.”
The retweet was made at some point after 5pm on Saturday and had not been deleted by 11am on Sunday. Senior Tory MP Simon Hoare said on Twitter: "Your comments are divisive, disingenuous & disturbing."
Welsh Secretary Sir Robert Buckland, another supporter of Mr Sunak, told BBC Radio Wales: "I think that sort of imagery and narrative is not just incendiary, it's wrong. I think it's time for those who think that an argument about Prada shoes or earrings is more important, for instance, should wind their neck in and let people talk about the issues rather than the personality."
It comes as the Culture Secretary pushes through an Online Safety Bill to “create a safer internet” and reduce “online harm". An ally of Ms Dorries insisted the mocked-up Julius Caesar photo was an example of free speech that would be protected by the Bill. They added it was clearly a digitally altered satire of a historical scene, and “those dragging the Online Safety Bill into this are wilfully looking for an excuse to be offended on someone else’s behalf.”
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