SNP MP cleared of bullying Nadine Dorries

An SNP MP has been cleared of bullying erstwhile UK authorities curate Nadine Dorries.

Ms Dorries had complained astir John Nicolson's behaviour successful a Commons committee and tweets astir her that helium had posted, liked oregon retweeted.

The liked tweets included references to Ms Dorries being a "vacuous goon".

An independent adept panel said Mr Nicolson had not been shown to person breached parliament's bullying and harassment policy.

He had appealed to the sheet aft an probe by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards upheld the ailment against him that had been made by Ms Dorries.

The sheet said the commissioner, Daniel Greenberg, had failed to instrumentality into relationship that the bullying and harassment argumentation was not intended to "prevent vigorous absorption to the government".

It besides said helium had not taken into relationship Ms Dorries' ain grounds of tweeting, which the sheet said was applicable erstwhile considering whether it was tenable for her presumption of Mr Nicolson's behaviour arsenic bullying.

And it said the commissioner had failed to see that Ms Dorries had made akin complaints successful the past which had been dismissed, and had not afloat examined the chronology starring up to the her ailment against Mr Nicolson.

The panel's study said: "A adjacent introspection of that grounds mightiness person shed airy connected the existent subjective absorption to the tweets connected the portion of the complainant, and whether her absorption was reasonable.

"For those reasons, the determination had to beryllium acceptable aside".

However, it said akin behaviour betwixt MPs and unit members, oregon betwixt MPs successful antithetic circumstances, mightiness beryllium breaches of the bullying and harassment policy.

It added: "Anyone who experiences behaviour not successful enactment with the parliamentary behaviour codification volition person their lawsuit considered connected its ain idiosyncratic merits."

The sheet besides said Mr Nicolson had been "unwise" to similar oregon retweet immoderate of the tweets successful question.

The commissioner's determination to uphold Mr Dorries' ailment had gone against the proposal of the researcher assigned to the case, who concluded that Mr Nicolson had not breached the bullying and harassment policy.

In his entreaty against that decision, Mr Nicolson - a erstwhile BBC writer - told the autarkic sheet that the ailment was "political and personal" alternatively than genuine.

He said it had been made due to the fact that helium had been "effective successful exposing the complainant's weakness arsenic a curate and exposing problems with her ain record, which mightiness militate against her being accorded a peerage".

Ms Dorries' allegations included claims that the Ochil and South Perthshire MP had tweeted, liked oregon retweeted disparaging worldly astir her 168 times implicit a 24-hour play successful November 2021.

The liked tweets were said to person included descriptions of Ms Dorries arsenic being "grotesque", "as heavy arsenic 2 abbreviated planks" and a "mendacious, vacuous goon".

She besides claimed to person been "ragdolled" by Mr Nicolson during exchanges successful a gathering of the digital, media, civilization and athletics committee.

She was the caput of authorities for that portfolio astatine the time, portion Mr Nicolson is the SNP's spokesman.

Ms Dorries precocious announced that she would beryllium lasting down arsenic a Conservative MP aft blaming "dark forces" for removing her sanction from Boris Johnson's resignation honours list.