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LONDON — Scottish National Party MP John Nicolson has been cleared of bullying Britain’s ex-culture secretary Nadine Dorries.
Nicolson successfully appealed a judgment by parliament’s standards watchdog, which initially upheld a complaint under parliament’s bullying and harassment policy.
The two lawmakers clashed over the culture portfolio, which Dorries held during Boris Johnson’s premiership. In his role as SNP culture spokesperson, Nicolson was responsible for scrutinizing Dorries — who pushed for reforms the SNP opposed, including the mooted privatization of broadcaster Channel 4.
The complaint was revealed by POLITICO in March and concerned Nicolson’s use of social media.
According to correspondence seen by POLITICO at the time, Nicolson was investigated over his Twitter activity in November 2021 following a fiery hearing of the House of Commons culture committee at which Dorries — then still a Cabinet minister — gave evidence.
According to the report, published Tuesday, from parliament’s Independent Expert Panel (IEP) — which determines appeals and sanctions in cases brought against MPs — two allegations by Dorries were investigated.
Those allegations were that Nicolson “tweeted, liked or retweeted disparaging material about Dorries 168 times” over the course of a 24-hour-period in November 2021, and that in the course of that time he had ‘liked’ tweets that described Dorries as “grotesque”, a “vacuous goon”, and as having been “ragdolled” by him during parliamentary exchanges.
Parliament’s standards commissioner concluded that Nicolson’s behavior “in both instances amounts to both bullying and harassment.” But the IEP disagreed, and upheld an appeal against the judgment from Nicolson.
The panel ruled that the standards commissioner failed to consider whether their interpretation of the policy on bullying would “prevent vigorous opposition to the government.” It also said that the commissioner failed to consider Dorries’ own outspoken “record of tweeting.”
Dorries is set to stand down as an MP, after she resigned earlier in June amid a row over her blocked elevation to the House of Lords.
