BEEB BLAST
Nadine Dorries REFUSES to say she’s spoken to Boris Johnson and mixes up MPs names in car crash BBC interviews
NADINE Dorries refused to say whether she had spoken to Boris Johnson in car crash BBC interview today.
The Culture Secretary has been mocked for her cringeworthy performance as she spoke to BBC Breakfast after mixing up two MPs' names in an earlier radio interview.
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BBC Breakfast presenter Charlie Stayt asked Ms Dorries if she had spoken to the Prime Minister in the past 24 hours and was stunned by her frosty reply.
After a brief pause, the smiling MP replied: "Why? Why are you asking me that question?"
Stayt replied: "I'd like to know."
Ms Dorries simply said: "We've communicated."
Stayt went on to say: "I'm really confused. Is that a difficult question? I'm just asking if you've spoken to the Prime Minister, in the last 24 hours."
To which Ms Dorries retorted: "I'm not going to tell you the extent of my communications with the Prime Minister.
"I mean, I've answered your question. We have communicated. What is your next question?"
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Stayt went on to ask what Mr Johnson had communicated to her, but Ms Dorries declined to go into detail.
When Stayt asked about the PM's mood, Dorries described it as "very positive, extremely positive".
She added: "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."
In another grilling from the media this morning, she mixed up Martin Vickers, the MP for Cleethorpes in North East Lincolnshire and Matt Vickers, the MP for Stockton South.
On BBC Radio 4, Dorries was responding to comments made about the PM by Conservative MPs Nick Gibb and Aaron Bell, who are among eight MPs to have submitted letters of no confidence.
She mixed up the two MPs while questioned about the 2019 intake on Red Wall MPs.
CAR CRASH INTERVIEW
Viewers called the interview "excruciating," praising the presenter for handling it well.
One tweeted: “Not so much a car crash interview with Nadine Dorries on #BBCBreakfast but a truck crash, involving another truck.
"That's actually a petrol tanker, and the first truck contains explosives, and the crash is on a suspension bridge, which spans across a nuclear reactor facility
Another wrote: “Brilliant from Charlie Stayt. Nadine Dorries has all the swagger of a Year 7 student answering a teacher back until they realise said teacher will now ring her Mum. Embarrassing again from this government.”
A third added: “This is excruciating.”
Ms Dorries has often spoken out for the PM and is known as one of his most loyal defenders since she was appointed a cabinet member in September.
CARRIE ATTACKS
As the Prime Minister struggles to get a grip on Downing Street turmoil a slew of negative stories were being circulated by his political foes.
It was reported Mr Johnson's enemies are preparing a brutal weekend of “deeply unpleasant” personal attacks on wife Carrie in a bid to bring him down.
Last night a Tory source said: “Carrie has for some time been the target of an increasingly brutal briefing campaign to attack and discredit her. It is deeply unpleasant.”
Mr Johnson’s allies are livid the PM’s wife is being targeted when she cannot speak out herself, with one minister accusing critics of playing “the wife not the ball.”
One supportive MP said: “attacking the PM is fair enough, but going for his family is a new low.”
Yesterday, a fifth No10 aide quit - boxer Elena Narozanski - as the PM attempted to overhaul his faltering political machine in the wake of the party gate scandal.
She was a member of the Policy Unit run by the PM's close ally and friend Munira Mirza, who has also quit.
In a pep talk to remaining staff on Friday afternoon the PM, quoted the Lion King in a bold attempt to brush off his troubles after a torrid week.
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And explaining the overhaul of his team, he said: "As Rafiki in the Lion King says, change is good, and change is necessary even though it's tough.”
Ministers and MPs claimed the series of shock resignations was part of a planned shake-up of the top of Government.
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