Did Nadine Dorries actually say 'we've had the internet for 10 years?'

If there’s anything good come out of recent weeks in the wake of the party gate scandal, it’s that we’ve had plenty of Nadine Dorries car crash interviews to enjoy.

Her media appearances have made for some truly astonishing viewing, having been ridiculed online after defending Boris Johnson last week – not to mention becoming a meme on more than one occasion.

The culture secretary's interview with BBC News' Charlie Stayt also made headlines on Saturday as Dorries took a combative line after being unhappy with the presenters' questions.

Now, there’s another interview which is being criticised by social media users – but everything might not be as it seems.

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Dorries was speaking on Sky News when a clip that saw her appear to say the internet was just 10 years old was posted on social media.

“We’ve had 10 years of the internet..." the culture secretary says in the footage.

Comedians and commentators quickly got hold of the clip and wasted no time in criticising the minister for it – pointing out that the internet was in fact invented in 1989 by Tim Berners-Lee.

However, there was more to the clip than first met the eye, and it turns out Dorries wasn’t claiming the internet was only 10 years old at all.

In fact, she was talking about the government’s Online Safety Bill, which aims to crack down on illegal activity online.

Nadine Dorries: Majority of Tories support Boris Johnsonwww.youtube.com

The full interview sees her say that not enough has been done over the last decade to protect internet users.

“We’ve had 10 years of the internet kind of having its own way now,” she said, adding: “We’ve seen some of the harms happening particularly to young people and adults within our society and it’s time now for us to do something about that. That’s why we’re bringing this bill forward.”

Dorries also spoke about the “shocking comments” made by Jimmy Carr during a recent stand-up set, saying that as it’s on Netflix, it's the kind of content that won’t be impacted by the Online Safety Bill.

It comes after the comedian faced criticism for a “disturbing” joke about the Traveller community and the Holocaust.

Dorries also said that the government is looking to introduce a media bill in future which could “impose sanctions” on video on-demand services like Netflix.

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