Nadine Dorries becomes first person with nursing background to land cabinet role
MP and former nurse Nadine Dorries is now secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport
Former nurse Nadine Dorries has become the first person with a nursing background to serve in the cabinet after being appointed secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport.
MP has previously made controversial comments about nurses’ pay
She takes over from Oliver Dowden following a cabinet reshuffle, having previously served as health minister, with a focus on mental health and suicide prevention.
Ms Dorries has previously come under fire from members of her former profession. In March, while health minister, she angered nurses by suggesting they would accept the government’s then-suggested 1% pay rise if their partners were on furlough.
Her comments, made on BBC Woman’s Hour, were branded ‘sexist’ by nurses on social media, who remarked that nurses should not have to be dependent on partners to pay bills.
Best-selling author is ‘solid and capable’ says colleague
Defence secretary Ben Wallace said Ms Dorries, who is also an author, would make ‘a solid and capable’ minister.
‘Nadine Dorries is a bestselling author,’ Mr Wallace told Sky News on Thursday.
‘She has sold thousands and thousands of books, now if that isn’t part of culture, media and sport I don’t know what is.’
Among the major projects on her desk in her new role will be the government consultation on the privatisation of Channel 4 and the ongoing debate over the future of the BBC.
Who is Nadine Dorries?
- Born in 1957 in Liverpool, Ms Dorries began her nursing career at Warrington Hospital in 1975
- She moved into politics in 2000 and worked for three years as an adviser to former shadow home secretary and shadow chancellor Oliver Letwin
- Elected MP for Mid Bedfordshire in 2005, Ms Dorries has written more than ten books, including The Angels series about the nurses of Lovely Lane
- She was suspended from the Conservative party in 2012 for appearing on reality TV show I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here without informing the chief whip, but was readmitted to the party the following May
- On 10 March 2020, she became the first MP to be diagnosed with COVID-19
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