Nadine Dorries has been caught making a significant blunder and forgetting when 24-hour news coverage became mainstream in a new tweet.
Dorries, who was promoted to the digital, culture, media and sport secretary last year, has already made a significant impression on the general public since moving up to cabinet.
A prominent ally to the prime minister – despite the ongoing furore about his job – she has suggested axing the BBC license fee and accused the organisation of elitism.
She has previously been confused about how Channel 4 is funded too, and faced a wave of criticism when she was first promoted over her previous controversial tweets.
Dorries has not hesitated to hit out at others on Twitter either, poking fun at former prime minister David Cameron earlier this week and locking horns with LBC presenter James O’Brien too.
Now, she is in the spotlight again after tweeting in favour of bringing in a general election if Johnson is ousted – a tactic used by many of the prime minister’s allies to deter backbenchers from pushing him out.
She wrote: “[Tony] Blair as example of why we won’t need GE [general election] is wrong.
“It was yonks ago Blair to Brown smooth pre announced handover, no leadership election.
“Brown was still pressured to go, bottled it and then lost.
“V different times pre rolling 24hr news/social media.”
BBC News launched a 24 hour news channel in November 1997.
How the f*ck does the Secretary of State for Culture, *MEDIA* & Sport not know this? ??https://t.co/ZIfB8NRp7p
— Ben (@BenJamminWalker) January 27, 2022
However, this assessment from Dorries is inaccurate.
The BBC launched its 24-hour coverage in 1997, while Sky News launched Europe’s first 24-hour channel much earlier, in 1989.
Dorries also caused a stir when she retweeted comedian Joe Lycett recently, after he tweeted: “Boris Johnson don’t rise to it babe, I’m with Nadine we r on ur side no matter what xoxox.”
However, she quickly deleted it.
