Nadine Dorries MP: ‘I was apologising for being bolshie’

In response to a report published by the Standards and Privileges Committee the Tory MP said she apologised “fully and unreservedly” for her “inadvertent” breach of the rules in a personal statement read in the House of Commons on Monday,

But speaking to the T&C following the media backlash surrounding the announcement, Ms Dorries said she was actually apologising for being bolshie towards the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Kathryn Hudson.

She said: “I have only done what every other MP does, but the new Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards justified it to put a different interpretation on the role and has used my profile as a way of informing all the other MPs that this is the way it is now.

“My accounts are out there in the public domain, so it’s not like they’re concealed; they’re not, they’re there for everybody to see.

“Lots of MPs have outside earnings, but because I’m so high profile it comes more under the microscope.

“Obviously the impression people got on Twitter and what the media put out was that I had concealed my earnings, but I haven’t.”

The report concluded that the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards found Ms Dorries was in breach of the rules of the House in not registering outside earnings, which were paid to Averbrook Ltd since October 2012.

She was also criticised for her late registration in June 2013 of her shareholding in Averbrook Ltd and it stated that she was in breach of the Code of Conduct in not co-operating with the inquiry.

It was revealed that since November 2012 she has made at least eight media appearances involving six different television programmes, including I’m a Celebrity, but none of these were recorded in her Register entry.

It said: “The omissions also have the potential to undermine public confidence in the completeness and accuracy of the Register” but added there was no evidence that “the apparent late registration of Ms Dorries’ interest in Averbrook Ltd was other than inadvertent” and would be considered “a less serious matter.”

Ms Dorries added: “I was apologising because the Standards Commissoner wanted me to as I had been so bolshie with her.

“If you read the report what I am apologising for is not cooperating with her. That’s what she is making me apologise for.

“Labour is very much in pack mode at the moment, there are a lot of Labour trolls attacking my Twitter line, but people out on the street are saying to me ‘why are you always getting it?’

“My accounts are fully out there and already reported in the media so I have never attempted to hide anything at all.”