Nadine Dorries appeared on Andrew Neil’s Sunday Politics yesterday and declared: “My career is not over… It’s only just beginning.”
Nadine Dorries
The MP for Mid-Bedfordshire may be a bit of her mouthpiece and though her time in I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! was cringeworthy and tasteless, she’s the one having the last laugh. Her critics mock her as “Mad Nad”, but they are wrong. Dorries has made headway to share the issues she believes in and she has indeed become a household name.
Ms Dorries declared that she went on the show: “For the greater good of the Conservative Party” but as her parliamentary whip remains withdrawn, she plainly fails to understand that her colleagues are still less than thrilled with her. If they were sensible though, they should relent before she decides to jump.
Neil repeatedly asked Dorries if she would defect to UKIP and she tacitly denied such a possibility. One guest commented: “They [the Conservative Party] would be crazy to make her a UKIP martyr” and we agree with Andre Neil in his suggestion that: “She’ll live to fight another day.”
Jilly Cooper’s state of the nation style summary strikes chords with Matthew Steeples
Best-selling bonkbuster author Jilly Cooper might be best known for novels such as Riders and Jump! but in the 1980s and 90s she was equally lauded as “one of the Conservative Party’s most ardent supporters.”
Jilly Cooper
Cooper, born in 1937, showed she still has a grip on the nation’s pulse yesterday when she declared that the Conservative Party is “full of terrible people now” to The Spectator’s “Steerpike.”
Separately, in a comment to The Telegraph’s “Mandrake,” Mrs Cooper shared her thoughts on Pippa Middleton’s first book, Celebrate:
“[It] wasn’t a good idea. I don’t blame her – I think that she was ill-advised… All I can say is that I hope the British don’t demonise her because of it. She seems a lovely girl and her sister is wonderful.”
Ever the diplomat, Jilly Cooper, in these comments, shows herself as a truly brilliant wordsmith. She has tact and decency but at the same time doesn’t hold back when it comes to honesty.
Nigel Farage should put in a call. Mrs Cooper could be just the asset UKIP needs to transform them from a “bunch of loons” to electability.
Matthew Steeples takes a view on the story of David Cameron, UKIP, racism and foster homes
First David Cameron described UKIP supporters as “mostly racist” and then a pair of ex-Labour supporting foster parents from Rotherham had three children taken from their care due to their support for that party. Sane people are rightly asking: “What is going on?” and also wondering: “What on earth is ‘Call Me Dave’ playing at?”
The UK Independence Party is an organisation that reflects the views of many in this country and a significant segment of our readership back them too. Equally, many do not and UKIP rightly accepts that. Of course, by their very existence they are a party whose stances polarize opinion and their naff logo and the proclamations of some of their odder members do make rational individuals cringe from time to time.
Nigel Farage
Nigel Farage, the party’s best asset, is a man guided by sense. He has pointed out many of the significant failings of the European Union and he does it boldly and with a belief bolstered by a dedication to improving Great Britain’s lot. Like or loathe him, here is a politician with passion and one whose influence is growing.
A site that proclaims itself as: “Britain’s most-read political blog,” PoliticalBetting.com, takes a different view and backs Cameron’s statement in suggesting: “There is an Islamophobic element to UKIP that mirrors many parties in Europe.” They refer to “golliwog supporters” and even add:
“David Cameron is right to stand his ground and not apologise for his earlier remarks about UKIP. What should worry him more is the growing number of people in his own party who seem quite relaxed with working with them. They are either blissfully unaware of what lies underneath the party’s anti-European statements or worse are prepared to tolerate them for electoral gain.”
All a decent couple did was to attempt to care for unfortunate children and their political alliegances are an irrelevance. PoliticalBetting.com and David Cameron’s generalisations about UKIP are also wrong and Rotherham council’s actions are utterly abhorrent. Have none of these people learnt anything from how the media firestorm of the Jimmy Savile saga was fueled? Isn’t it about time that they woke up and got their own houses in order instead of ranting about racism and foster parenting?
Matthew Steeples suggests that Nadine Dorries is perhaps right to head for the jungle
Don’t get me wrong: I think Nadine Dorries is an utter loon. For those who haven’t heard of her, she’s the MP for Mid-Bedfordshire and a bit of a mouthpiece. Her entry on our roll call attracted over 8,000 hits yesterday and that alone is clear indication that she, unlike the majority of dimwits that occupy the Houses of Parliament, is an MP who gets noticed.
Nadine Dorries heads for the jungle
“Gets noticed,” I hear you splutter. Yes, she’s someone who loves the limelight and doesn’t care whom she offends. She’s best known for having described David Cameron and George Osborne as a pair of “arrogant posh boys” who “don’t know the price of milk” and is regularly derided for her “maverick” ways. Here is a woman who gets compared to Ann Widdecombe and Edwina Currie and one that hasn’t let her party tell her what to do.
In the House of Commons she’s achieved little apart from becoming a figure of fun. She’s commonly known as “Mad Nad” and the media reel her out whenever they fancy a bit of sport. Dorries can be relied upon to produce lines such as: “[I’m] not an MP for any other reason other than because God wants me to be” and these indeed are classic examples of her idiocy.
On Tuesday, it was announced that Ms. Dorries, on full parliamentary pay, has headed off to Australia to participate in the ITV1 television series I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! For this, she’s pocketing a fee of circa £40,000 and will, without doubt, rake in a lot more in appearance fees and for interviews on her return. MPs and the media derided this move but I congratulate her.
Martha Payne
I cannot disagree with those who state that she’d be fired if she were in a normal job and just disappeared for a month, but “Mad Nad” has realised that the Conservative Party is not the place for her. She has plainly come to the conclusion that the House of Commons is nothing other than a chamber full of hot air and that to get things changed, you follow the example of the schoolgirl Martha Payne and use technology and the media to the max. With NeverSeconds, this fearless 9-year old took on the might of a council and improved school dinners. In the meantime, MPs haven’t even been able to come up with an appropriate solution to restore the Houses of Parliament, let alone solve a nation in the midst of economic meltdown.
Frankly, we have too many MPs in this country and they don’t work hard enough. In total, there are 650 and this corresponds to one for every 68,000 parliamentary electors. It would be better to halve this number and double the pay of the remainder. We’d get better quality people applying to be our representatives and people like “Mad Nad” would be a thing of the past. Nadine Dorries isn’t an A-list “celebrity” but she should most certainly stick to the jungle.
The Steeple Times asks the right-wing businessman and owner of Maunsel House and Woodlands Castle, Sir Benjamin Slade: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”
The Steeple Times shares “wit and wisdom.” What’s your guiding force?
Money, power, sex, success, land, trees, books and fine wine.
“Don’t get even, get medieval” is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What’s yours?
“If it f**ks, floats or flies: Rent it, don’t buy it and don’t marry it!”
Kerry Katona was considered unacceptable in 2007. Who or what is unacceptable in 2012?
David Cameron and Sir Mervyn King.
Tony Blair misses being Prime Minister. What do you miss most in your life?
Being in London full-time.
What might you swap all your wealth for?
Good health and two healthy sons.
Donald Trump was once a case of: “If you owe the bank a thousand, they close you down; but if you owe the bank a billion, you own the bank.” What’s your view on the banking crisis?
It’s like putting bartenders on commission and allowing them to give credit to alcoholics who die and go bankrupt.
In the UK, some people consider charity to “begin at home.” What’s your view and what causes do you personally support?
UKIP and Help for Heroes.
The judge in “Law Abiding Citizen” states: “I can pretty do whatever I want” before being blown up whilst answering her mobile phone. What’s your view on the appropriate use of such devices?
They are useful for ringing up if late, doing deals and arranging dinners with girls.
If you could fill a carriage on The Orient Express, who would be your fellow passengers?
Warren Buffett, Bobby Faber, Philip Gibbs, Bettany Hughes, Brian Kingham, Lady Kitchener-Fellowes, Francis Fulford, Robert Lyle, Sir John Madejski, David Ord, General Sir Michael Rose, Roger Seelig, Alexander Stockton, Jonathan Sumption PC, Norman Tebbit, Lord Westbury, the Duke of Westminster and Mrs William Worsley. Adrian de Ferranti can sit in the luggage car and serve wine.
Sir Benjamin Slade Bt.
If you were unfortunate enough to end up on death row, what would be your last meal and where would you eat it?
It’d have to be at La Tour d’Argent in Paris.
What time is it acceptable to consume the first drink of the day?
1pm and 6pm.
A Negroni, a martini or a cup of tea?
Green tea.
Whose parties do you enjoy the most and why?
Sotheby’s and Christie’s and those hosted by Liz Floyd and Philip Gibbs.
Who is the most positive person you know?
My friend Bobby Faber.
What’s your most guilty pleasure?
Drinking claret at £100 per bottle.
If a tattoo were to sum you up, what would it be of?
A big castle with lots of walnut trees, good books and bottles of wine. And girls’ hips.
If you were a car, what marque would you be?
A Ford Fiesta.
Cilla Black presented “Surprise, Surprise.” Tell us the most surprising thing about you.
I’m self-made, have a great knowledge of history and am a seriously good doctor with over 120 patients. And, you’ll be surprised to learn that I was a spy in the Middle East for Britain.
What’s currently sitting on your mantelpiece?
Tankards, invites, various Mouser and Walther pistols, cows horns, Roman artifacts, decanters, pewter cups, silver, an 18th century bottle of port and a Russian machine gun.
Maunsel House, North Newton, Near Taunton, Somerset, TA7 0BU. Telephone: +44 (0) 1278 661076. Website:http://www.maunselhouse.co.uk
Gregory Barker worked for Roman Abramovich at the Sibneft Oil Group and as Energy Minister, took his daschund, Otto, to work at the Houses of Parliament. A Conservative Member of Parliament between 2001 and 2015, Barker lives between Notting Hill and Sussex and is widely cited as the architect of David Cameron’s “green conservatism”.
A fantasist of the first order, Nadine Milroy-Sloan invented a tale of being raped by Neil and Christine Hamilton and sold her story to a national newspaper with the help of the since convicted sexual abuser Max Clifford. She went to jail in 2003 and then thankfully faded into obscurity. In September 2014, this lunatic sadly reappeared in the media when she was jailed for four years for telling police that her boyfriend had attacked her with a samuari sword. Her story should be a lesson to those who tell lies: eventually you get caught.
A former broker who has survived a plane crash and taken on the European Commission. He’s onto his second stint as leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) and has penned a set of memoirs named Fighting Bull. Booze loving Nigel Farage thinks that: “Politics need a bit of spicing up.” He’s certainly making good progress on that front to date.
