The parliamentary standards commissioner has denied reports that a Scottish National party MP has been cleared of bullying the former cabinet minister Nadine Dorries and said the investigation is ongoing.
The SNP’s culture spokesperson, John Nicolson, was reported – including by the Guardian – to have been cleared of cyberbullying after a six-month long investigation by parliament’s independent complaints and grievance scheme (ICGS).
The ICGS reportedly assessed a series of tweets Nicolson sent about Dorries while she was culture secretary in Boris Johnson’s cabinet.
Nicolson called Dorries “a horrible disgusting woman”, “a “mendacious, vacuous Tory goon” and “thick as two short planks”.
But Daniel Greenberg said on Thursday the investigation was ongoing. “Following a request from both parties to the investigation and in response to recent media reporting, I am taking the unusual step of using my powers to correct the record,” he said.
“The investigation in the case referred to in recent media reports is ongoing, and no decision has yet been made.”
Nicolson liked the tweets posted by others after the pair engaged in a Commons select committee session, during which he questioned Dorries on her use of Twitter.
After a number of exchanges during the digital, culture, media and sport committee hearing in November 2021, she said she was “not going to answer questions about tweets that I posted 12 years ago, or whenever it was”.
At one point, Nicolson said: “It is hard to keep track of your tweets”, to which Dorries replied: “Not as hard as it is to keep track of yours.”
The case marks the first time a British politician has been investigated by the ICGS over allegations of cyberbullying another MP. The ICGS was created in 2018 to get a grip on misconduct within parliament.
A House of Commons spokesperson said: “Parliament’s ICGS operates on the basis of confidentiality for the benefit of all parties. Therefore, we cannot provide any information on any complaint, including whether or not a complaint has been received.”
