Tory MP Nadine Dorries has launched an astonishing attack on “left-wing snowflakes” who she thinks are making the world a culturally poorer place.
The Brexiteer’s wide-ranging evisceration deployed the ‘snowflake’ insult favoured by some on the right in a sign that any culture war ‘Christmas truce’ was now over.
Her cyber-rant came after she re-tweeted a story highlighting how higher education minister Jo Johnson had threatened fines against universities that failed to defend free speech on campuses.
The Conservative minister argued free speech was under threat because some students are denying speaking slots to campaigners who have expressed controversial views – or ‘no platforming’. It’s an argument forcefully dismissed by student leaders as exaggerated.
But Dorries was not going to let it lie, compiling a greatest hits:
On a slow news day betwixt Christmas and New Year, the MP started trending.
Not that everyone was critical.
And one spoof account suggested it could find a more recepetive audience.
Dorries has proved to be a prominent figure amid the endless ‘best of the year’ lists that fill newspapers during the festive period but, sadly for some, can’t be placed on the front page.
In any case, there was one line in the diatribe that many thought was deserving of more attention.
It was a bit of a pile-on …
One writer brought a little more rigour to the debate …
And Dorries responded, bringing out the big guns: Christopher Biggins!
Panto veteran and fellow I’m A Celebrity … alum Biggins, who is currently starring as Widow Twankey in Aladdin in Richmond, has criticised theatre companies that have toned down jokes following the the sexual harassment scandals that emerged in 2017.
Qdos Pantomimes, which stages dozens of shows around the country, cut a sketch in Dick Whittington as the visual joke – a male actor looking up the skirt of a female character – “just feels wrong”.
“The generation they refer to as snowflakes are in danger of killing panto,” said Biggins.