An SNP MP has been cleared of bullying Nadine Dorries after liking tweets describing her as “grotesque” and a “vacuous goon”.
John Nicolson, MP for Ochil and South Perthshire, had appealed a ruling by the parliamentary standards commissioner that his conduct on Twitter had amounted to bullying after a complaint by the former culture secretary.
Overturning a previous ruling, an independent expert panel highlighted comments made by Ms Dorries on social media, including saying she would “nail [a journalist’s] balls to the floor using [their] front teeth”.
It was also noted “a number of occasions where [Ms Dorries] has advanced spurious complaints of harassment or bullying, which have been rejected or dismissed”.
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Ms Dorries’ complaint related to a series of “disparaging” tweets Mr Nicolson, the SNP’s culture spokesperson, had liked and retweeted following her appearance at the Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee in November 2021.
The former culture secretary made a formal complaint to parliament’s independent complaints and grievance scheme (ICGS) almost a year later in October 2022, alleging that liking these tweets amounted to bullying and harassment.
She complained Mr Nicolson’s behaviour in the House and social media activity – liking or retweeting “disparaging material” about Ms Dorries 168 times in 24 hours – constituted bullying and harassment.
The then-secretary of state also complained about a “spurious point of order” in the chamber of the House of Commons – an act where an MP challenges the actions of another MP through the Speaker.
Although an initial investigation recommended clearing Mr Nicolson, standards commissioner Daniel Greenberg disagreed, saying he was “satisfied that Ms Dorries was “left feeling vulnerable, upset, undermined, humiliated, denigrated or threatened’ by Mr Nicolson’s conduct” and had therefore been bullied.
Appealing against the decision, Mr Nicolson told the independent panel that the complaint was “political and personal” rather than genuine, and arose from the fact he had been “effective in exposing the complainant’s weakness as a minister and exposing problems with her own record, which might militate against her being accorded a peerage”.
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The panel found Mr Greenberg had not paid enough attention to the “highly charged political context” of the complaint or Ms Dorries’ own record of tweeting, which had involved use of “strong language”.
The panel also noted that Ms Dorries had made no complaint at the time Mr Nicolson liked the disparaging tweets, or even after he raised a point of order in the Commons following a subsequent select committee appearance, in which she wrongly claimed the subjects of a Channel 4 documentary had been actors.
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It did note that similar behaviour as that seen between politicians may not be acceptable in other walks of life.
The panel also noted that liking and retweeting tweets were not “neutral” acts and Mr Nicolson had been “unwise” to do so with some of the tweets in question.
In response, Ms Dorries said that “a shadow of doubt” was being cast over “parliamentary process and the conduct of individual MPs” because an independent expert panel overruled a decision that was initially advised against.
She tweeted: “In any workplace other than parliament where the rule of law, not privilege, applies, Nicholson (sic) would have been instantly dismissed.
“I’m disappointed that the Standards Commissioner’s verdict has been overturned in this way. It seems strange to me that it can be done on the basis of ‘new evidence’ which I have not seen or been given the opportunity to respond to.
“Once again, a shadow of doubt is cast over parliamentary process and the conduct of individual MPs.”
Ms Dorries announced she was standing down as an MP with “immediate effect” almost a week ago, but is yet to actually leave the Commons.
