Nadine Dorries’ Path To UK House Of Lords Blocked Over ‘Tower Block Of Commons’ Remarks

deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE: A prominent Scottish MP is attempting to block former Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries’ path to the House of Lords over her controversial claim that Channel 4 used actors in Love Productions’ reality format Tower Block of Commons.John Nicolson, who sits on the influential Digital, Culture, Media & Sport Committee (DCMSC) and famously grilled Dorries over Tower Block of Commons in May, has written to House of Lords Appointments Commission Chair Lord Bew and referred the matter to the UK’s Commons Committee of Privileges.

Deadline has seen the letter.Nicolson argues that Dorries’ knowingly misled a parliamentary committee with her “seemingly entirely false” claim and therefore should not be allowed to enter the House of Lords.

The former I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! contestant stepped down as Culture Secretary earlier this week and is expected to be given a peerage.In July, Channel 4 and Tower Block of Commons producer Love investigated Dorries’ comments that the people who took part in the format were “not really living in a flat” and “were actually actors,” concluding there was “no evidence to support the allegations made about the programme.”Others who took part in the show 12 years ago, a social experiment format that saw MPs such as Dorries live in deprived UK housing estates, have publicly refuted her claims.Nicolson’s letter to Bew requested that any decision on [Dorries’] appointment to the Lords be delayed until the Commons Committee of Privileges takes a decision on whether to investigate and then rule on this serious matter.”“If Ms.

Dorries’ claims are substantiated her appointment can proceed,” added Nicolson. “But if Channel 4’s investigation remains unchallenged by evidence, it will be