Nadine Dorries slammed the BBC for ‘nepotism’ but forgot she used to employ her daughters

Nadine Dorries’ attempt to slam the BBC has awkwardly backfired for a very basic reason.

Speaking at the Conservative Party conference, the Culture secretary revealed a rather short memory as she accused the corporation of “nepotism” despite her employing her daughters to work in her MP office less than a decade ago.

She said: “We’re having a discussion about how the BBC can become more representative of the people who pay the licence fee, and how it can be more accessible to people from all backgrounds, not just people whose mum and dad worked there.”

Dorries employed her daughters Phillipa and Jennifer to work as secretaries in her private office in 2012, the Mirror reported. Both daughters were paid from public funds at a cost to the taxpayer of up to £80,000, but for some reason, this didn’t affect Dorries’ analysis of the arts and media sector, and the minister added, without shame:

“People from my background wrote books, wrote theatre plays and did really well.

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“If you want to do that today you need a double-barrelled name, you need to have gone to a private or a public school or your mum needs to know someone, or your dad needs to know someone, or you need to have a connection at the BBC.”

While she has a point about the dominance of privately educated people in much of the media, reacting to her, people quickly reminded her about her own employment arrangements:

Very awkward indeed.

indy100 has contacted Nadine Dorries for comment.