Tory MPs have condemned “divisive, untrue and disturbing” interventions against Rishi Sunak by culture secretary Nadine Dorries, including a tweet showing Sunak brandishing a knife at Boris Johnson.
Other Tory ministers have condemned Liz Truss supporter Dorries’ comments about Sunak’s dress sense, after she compared her Savile Row dress to Truss’ earrings from Claire’s.
One suggested that it was deeply provocative for her to tweet the image of Sunak stabbing Johnson, in a parody of Julius Caesar, given that two MPs have recently been killed.
The culture secretary, one of Johnson’s closest allies, retweeted an image depicting him as Julius Caesar about to be stabbed by a knife-wielding Sunak, a parody of his resignation that brought down the prime minister.
Business Minister Greg Hands said the image was inappropriate, especially given the killing of Southend West Tory MP Sir David Amess in a constituency surgery in Essex last October.
“I’m sure Liz Truss would reject this kind of behaviour. I think that’s appalling,” Hands told Sky News. “Look, it’s not even a year since the stabbing of Sir David Amess in his Southend constituency surgery, so I think this is in very, very bad taste, even dangerous… I find it disgusting” .
Welsh Secretary Robert Buckland, who also supports Sunak, told BBC Radio Wales that “the kind of images and narratives are not only inflammatory, they are wrong”. He said: “It’s time for those who think a discussion about Prada shoes or earrings is more important, for example, to stick their necks out and let people talk about issues rather than personalities” .
Simon Hoare, chairman of the Northern Ireland select committee, tweeted that it was “totally, totally bland. Thick and tasteless. Beneath the dignity of office…Respectfully remembering our fallen comrades David Amess and Jo Cox. Injured Stephen Timms. I’ll leave it there.”
Former Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis, a supporter of Truss, said he did not think the Foreign Secretary supported the comments. He told Sky News: “It’s certainly not the sort of thing I would tweet… Nadine is known for having strong opinions about things. Nadine speaks for herself, she’s very individual about it. But this is not a position Liz would take.”
Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Dorries said she “may have gone a bit over the top” with her tweet comparing the Chancellor’s dress and Prada shoes to Truss’ budget earrings.
“I wanted to highlight Rishi’s misguided style of dress to alert Conservative members not to be fooled by appearances in the way that happened to many of us who served with the Chancellor in Cabinet,” he wrote. “The killer’s bright smile, kind voice and even his diminutive stature had many of us fooled indeed.”
He said the former chancellor “travelled down a path of treachery and in doing so is unlikely to win the hearts and minds of Tory party members who value loyalty and decency above all else. “.
Those comments also drew the ire of Sunak’s supporters, including MP Kevin Hollinrake, who tweeted that there had been “a spate of resignations, including a Secretary of State to the Chancellor… 55 resignations the next day plus o less, including those who ran for leadership. … Have you forgotten how Boris got to the top? Rightly or wrongly, there are always limits to loyalty.”
An ally of Dorries said: “It is obviously a satirical image of Brutus and Caesar which has clearly been Photoshopped to provide political commentary. There were similar cartoons [Michael] Gove in 2016. Some people will, of course, want to be willfully offended”.
Dorries has been approached for comment.