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Left Foot Forward > Published by Alex Hern, December 8th 2011 at 5:05 pm

Malcolm Rifkind: Nadine Dorries doesn’t live in the real world

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Newsnight yesterday managed to have one of the liveliest debates it’s had in a very long time by giving up attempts at impartiality and simply having two Conservatives debating the Eurozone together. It helps that one of those two was Nadine Dorries.

Malcolm-Rifkind-v-Nadine-Dorries-Newsnight-euro-debate
Dorries’s first avenue of attack was eerily familiar:

Dorries: “I’m afraid Malcolm is falling into the trap of defending the outrageous claims, the worst case scenarios. Actually, Malcolm, all we need to do to defend the city from the transaction tax is to say no. That’s all we need to do.”

“So all this flim-flam about the prime minister’s going to, he’s going to defend – he’s going to come back on Friday waving a white flag with “prosperity in our time” on it, because he’s been and defended the city, and this will be the story which comes back. That the prime minister has been and he’s saved the city.”

Paxman: “Well, he’s done that hasn’t he?”

Dorries: “Well, there is no saving to be done, we just say no, we won’t have the transaction tax, so that’s not the issue.”

Where have we heard that before? Oh yes:

“If a stronger ‘just say no’ message was given to children in school then there might be an impact on sex abuse … if we imbued this message in school we’d probably have less sex abuse.”

Nadine Dorries’ staunch belief that everything bad in the world could be avoided if people just said no more often faltered when it came up against someone who actually knew a bit about what he was saying.

The unlikely good guy in this faceoff was Malcolm Rifkind, Margaret Thatcher’s Europe minister, who told Dorries that her complaints weren’t based on reality:

“There is a fundamental gap with the real world in what we’re being told.

“The reality is that no one country, whether it’s the United Kingdom or any other country, can simply dictate to all the rest, even the Germans can’t do that, they have to get agreement from their allies.

“So the idea that David Cameron goes to a summit and says ‘I am going to veto this summit, this agreement of everybody else we should go forward on, regardless of the implications for the European economy, regardless of the reactions of the markets, including our interest rates, as well as those in other countries unless you give me concessions on matters which are not relevant to this immediate European crisis’…

“You’ve got to be negotiating in a sensible, practical way, not just saying I demand this, I demand that, regardless of the consequences. That’s not the real world we live in.”

And if you were still under the impression that Dorries is worth listening to on the EU, bear in mind that she apparently thinks that the Eurozone is a new thing:

“The big issue is, which needs defending and debating, is whether or not there is going to be a Eurozone, a bloc of seventeen countries. If there are, and that’s what’s decided, and we are part of the twenty-seven, the outer ring, then that inner union will affect our economy and that will be bad for us…

“If there is a bloc of seventeen countries in a Union, that will impact on us and on our economy, and will bring about changes to our economy, and therefore we have to have a referendum.”

Other things which have brought about changes on us and our economy: the royal wedding, the Japanese tsunami, and snow. We await Nadine Dorries calling for a referendum on all of these as well.

You can watch the full video of their exchange below:

See also:

• Huhne attacks “Tea Party Tories” – who on Earth does he mean?! – Alex Hern, September 20th 2011

• The costs and consequences of Dorries’s abortion proposals – Ashwin Kumar, August 31st 2011

• If anti-abortionists have their way on counselling, what will they demand next? – Shamik Das, August 31st 2011

• Cameron, Clarke, Dorries, Willetts… The Tories keep screwing up on gender equality – Daniel Elton, May 22nd 2011

• Dorries: “I totally admire Sarah Palin” – Shamik Das, September 30th 2010

  • http://twitter.com/bigtatty/status/144827005052006400 bigtatty

    Malcolm Rifkind: Nadine Dorries doesn’t live in the real world: http://t.co/PuzJN2o3 by @AlexHern

  • http://twitter.com/kaschwilder/status/144828693347438594 Kasch Wilder

    RT @leftfootfwd: Malcolm Rifkind: Nadine Dorries doesn’t live in the real world http://t.co/yPshZMqz

  • http://twitter.com/goodenoughtom/status/144828718135783424 Tom Goodenough

    RT @leftfootfwd: Malcolm Rifkind: Nadine Dorries doesn’t live in the real world http://t.co/LE4tQZif

  • http://twitter.com/bohica/status/144830607707488256 Mark Patterson

    Rifkind almost looks sorry for #Dorries towards the end of their debate last night: http://t.co/AhStOHzt

  • http://twitter.com/politicalplanet/status/144832219918254081 Political Planet

    Malcolm Rifkind: Nadine Dorries doesn’t live in the real world: Alex Hern highlights the spectacle that was Nadi… http://t.co/tXjCjc6i

  • http://twitter.com/essgee91/status/144833728328368129 Shelley

    @RopesToInfinity well you said she wasn't real : Malcolm Rifkind: Nadine Dorries doesn’t live in the real world: http://t.co/aOobKzux

  • http://twitter.com/mcteaurn/status/144837419039076352 react

    Malcolm Rifkind: Nadine Dorries doesn’t live in the real world: http://t.co/PuzJN2o3 by @AlexHern

  • http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/12/rick-perry-doesn%e2%80%99t-understand-logic/ Rick Perry doesn’t understand logic | Left Foot Forward

    [...] Of course, we can’t be too smug. We have Nadine Dorries. [...]

  • http://twitter.com/salardeen/status/144840646425976834 salardeen

    “@leftfootfwd: Malcolm Rifkind: Nadine Dorries doesn’t live in the real world: http://t.co/pbd0UWO8 by @AlexHern” he mean the Tory's world

  • http://twitter.com/shamikdas/status/144864380423651329 Shamik Das

    Must watch 2: RT @leftfootfwd: Malcolm Rifkind: Nadine Dorries doesn’t live in the real world: http://t.co/6hdbbVQn by @AlexHern

  • Mr. Sensible

    Talk about the crew fighting on the Titanic…

  • http://twitter.com/lf_uncertainly/status/144910116926390272 Luke Hebblethwaite

    #Dorries is fucking mental RT:Malcolm Rifkind: Nadine Dorries doesn’t live in the real world: http://t.co/I4AQrISk by @AlexHern

  • http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/12/eu-summit-futile-global-financial-crisis-not-eurozone-crisis/ EU summitry is futile; this is a global financial crisis, not a eurozone crisis | Left Foot Forward

    [...] Malcolm Rifkind: Nadine Dorries doesn’t live in the real world – Alex Hern, December 8th [...]

  • http://twitter.com/ccadywould/status/145142768099008512 Charlie Cadywould

    RT @leftfootfwd: Malcolm Rifkind: Nadine Dorries doesn’t live in the real world http://t.co/M0DyggDi

  • http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/12/look-left-09-12-11/ Look Left – Europe 26-1 Cameron: Britain isolated like never before | Left Foot Forward

    [...] MP for Mid Bedfordshire Nadine Dorries, who on Wednesday’s Newsnight was embarrassingly poor in putting forward the ranty, illogical, anti-European ‘no surrender’ [...]

  • http://twitter.com/norbet/status/145971316749643778 NORBET

    RT @leftfootfwd: Malcolm Rifkind: Nadine Dorries doesn’t live in the real world http://t.co/AO7xT9fl

  • http://twitter.com/bloggerheads/status/145972385416355840 Tim Ireland

    Malcolm Rifkind: Nadine Dorries doesn’t live in the real world: http://t.co/PuzJN2o3 by @AlexHern

  • http://twitter.com/zootcadillac/status/145972614052069377 Craig

    RT @leftfootfwd: Malcolm Rifkind: Nadine Dorries doesn’t live in the real world: http://t.co/wdCu0RDI by @AlexHern via @bloggerheads

  • http://twitter.com/oy_vey_baby/status/145976098352672768 oy_vey_baby

    Malcolm Rifkind: Nadine Dorries doesn’t live in the real world: http://t.co/PuzJN2o3 by @AlexHern

  • http://twitter.com/dawntigga/status/145976277814362112 Dawn Darch

    RT @leftfootfwd: Malcolm Rifkind: Nadine Dorries doesn’t live in the real world: http://t.co/rr6Qcwb4 by @AlexHern

  • http://twitter.com/superretroid/status/145979130813485056 Paul Wood

    Malcolm Rifkind: Nadine Dorries doesn’t live in the real world: http://t.co/PuzJN2o3 by @AlexHern

  • http://twitter.com/pyrogenius/status/145980668894121984 David Smout

    Malcolm Rifkind: Nadine Dorries doesn’t live in the real world: http://t.co/PuzJN2o3 by @AlexHern

  • http://twitter.com/martinb9999/status/145997955382521857 Martin Burns

    Malcolm Rifkind: Nadine Dorries doesn’t live in the real world: http://t.co/PuzJN2o3 by @AlexHern

  • http://twitter.com/tanngrisnir/status/146005728665153536 DC

    Malcolm Rifkind: Nadine Dorries doesn’t live in the real world: http://t.co/PuzJN2o3 by @AlexHern

  • http://twitter.com/c_a_jonestechno/status/146268297850126336 CAROLE JONES

    And finally Mad Nadine Dorries enters stage far right; watch Sir Malcolm Rifkind tear her 'arguments' to shreds: http://t.co/jJpJNeH1 #EU

  • http://twitter.com/lukeplace/status/146268728437374976 Luke Place

    Nadine Dorries is an embarrassment to her party. She makes former members of Thatcher's cabinet appear reasonable!

    http://t.co/q8NAGvWU

  • http://twitter.com/joesoneill/status/146273440201048065 Joe O’Neill

    And finally Mad Nadine Dorries enters stage far right; watch Sir Malcolm Rifkind tear her 'arguments' to shreds: http://t.co/jJpJNeH1 #EU

  • http://twitter.com/scott_kay/status/146287378951188480 Scott Kay

    MT @leftfootfwd Sir Malcolm Rifkind speaks out in #EU debate; destroys swivel-eyed Tory Nadine Dorries on #Newsnight: http://t.co/mJApg5JW

  • http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/12/look-left-23-12-11/ Look Left – Look back at the year | Left Foot Forward

    [...] and see here for a look at where this slippery slope leads; and on her swivel-eyed Euroscepticism, look at Sir Malcolm Rifkind take her simplistic, isolationist, anti-European arguments apart. [...]

  • http://twitter.com/chalmers6/status/150659023824355328 Alex Chalmers

    Nadine Dorries made to look stupid (not that she needs much help): http://t.co/FzJS6LDS

  • http://twitter.com/mbrmark/status/150695770755051520 Mark Robertson

    Malcolm Rifkind: Nadine Dorries doesn’t live in the real world | Left Foot Forward http://t.co/tfreAbJf via @addthis

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_CWZUGMMRGKSPESHAKXBXZL32MM Margaret

    I thought everyone realised ages ago that Dorries while dreaming ‘fell down the rabbit hole and found she was in the Alice In Wonderland World. She does live on more than 70% fiction
    Coming from Liverpool I can assure you the fact that the woman was elected is amazing.
    I have relations in the medical field and her Abortion stories should not have been swept away as easily as they were. That Cameron allows her to go on and on about Teenagers saying No and information on abortion that was so full of drama now makes me change from being a conservative.
    Perhaps looking up her friends from her teenage years and nursing colleague’s would be very interesting !

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_CWZUGMMRGKSPESHAKXBXZL32MM Margaret

    I thought everyone realised ages ago that Dorries while dreaming ‘fell down the rabbit hole and found she was in the Alice In Wonderland World. She does live on more than 70% fiction
    Coming from Liverpool I can assure you the fact that the woman was elected is amazing.
    I have relations in the medical field and her Abortion stories should not have been swept away as easily as they were. That Cameron allows her to go on and on about Teenagers saying No and information on abortion that was so full of drama now makes me change from being a conservative.
    Perhaps looking up her friends from her teenage years and nursing colleague’s would be very interesting !