Nadine Dorries was referred to the Tory chief whip by the UK’s top civil servant over claims she sent “forceful” messages to senior civil servants after she was blocked for a peerage in Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list.
Simon Case, the head of the UK’s civil service, said he had reported the staunch ally of Mr Johnson to both the Tory chief whip Simon Hart and Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle over the messages.
The cabinet secretary also told MPs that he had asked for legal advice when asked if the ex-culture secretary may have broken the law over the “forceful” messages.
The shock twist emerged during a hearing of the public administration and constitutional affairs committee, where Mr Case was grilled on Ms Dorries, Sue Gray and Tory attacks on the civil service “blob”.
Senior Tory MP William Wragg asked the nation’s top civil servant if he was aware of “rather forceful communications” sent by Ms Dorries to senior civil servants.
The committee chair said Ms Dorries had been “threatening” to use “the platform of the Commons and indeed her own television programme to get to the bottom of why she hadn’t been given a peerage”.
Mr Case said he was “aware of those communications and have flagged them to both the chief whip and Speaker of the House”.
Asked whether the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925 could “come into play”, Mr Case said he was “seeking further advice on that question”, adding: “So taken initial advice, but asked for more.”
The Independent understands that although legal advice was sought on whether Ms Dorries messages violated the 1925 act, officials decided she did not contravene the law. It remains uncertain whether the chief whip or Commons Speaker could investigate and sanction the senior MP.
Asked about the claims, Ms Dorries has told the i newspaper that the only civil servant she had contacted was Mr Case, aside apart from sending a series of Freedom of Information Act requests about her blocked peerage.
Nadine Dorries furious that peerage given by Boris Johnson was blocked
Ms Dorries has left many Tory colleagues exasperated by failing to formally resign her Mid-Bedfordshire seat, despite announcing she was leaving parliament with immediate effect over a month ago.
The arch Johnson loyalist has warned Mr Sunak that she will not formally quit until the government releases documents surrounding the decision to deny her a peerage as part of the former PM’s resignation honours.
The Lib Dems responding to Mr Case’s comments by calling on Mr Sunak to make sure the Tory whip is suspended from Ms Dorries.
The party’s deputy leader Daisy Cooper said the claims of threatening messages were “staggering” and a “swift investigation” was needed. “The least Rishi Sunak can do is suspend her by withdrawing the Conservative whip while any investigation takes place.”
Cabinet secretary Simon Case rejected ‘dehumanising’ attacks on ‘blob’
Mr Case told MPs that some people had sought to “weaponise” the row over Sue Gray and her decision to join Labour amid broader attacks on the civil service.
He criticised the use of the term “the blob”, a phrase deployed often by some Tory MPs to attack Whitehall officials.
“There has always been language that has been around for people to express their frustrations – the establishment, the system,” he said. “I think this is a bit different. I fear it is being used in a very modern, dehumanising way.”
Mr Case rejected Mr Johnson’s own criticism of the Partygate investigator and former civil servant. “We found no evidence that Sue’s report was affected by party political considerations,” he told MPs.
The cabinet secretary said the last five years had seen a deterioration in relations between officials and politicians – although he added the situation had improved “quite significantly” since Mr Sunak became PM.
It emerges on Wednesday that Ms Dorries’ book on Mr Johnson’s “political assassination” is to be released just days before the Tory conference in the autumn.
The loyal ally of the former PM has announced a deal with Harper Collins to publish in late September – threatening to reopen old wounds at the party’s October conference in Manchester.
Promising to reveal all in a “political whodunnit”, the Tory MP suggested that she had discovered even more sinister forces in her own party “stretching back decades”.
