Russia bans Nadine Dorries

Since her appointment as Culture Secretary in September, Nadine Dorries hasn’t been shy about making the odd enemy or two. Whether it’s the BBC, Channel 4, Facebook or Ofcom, the former nurse has shown no compunction in dishing out the harsh medicine during her seven months in office. And now it seems the Bedfordshire MP can add another name to her growing list of foes: Vladimir Putin’s kleptocratic Russian regime.

For Dorries is one of the more surprising additions on a list of 13 British politicians who have today been banned by Moscow over the UK’s ‘hostile’ stance on the war in Ukraine. While some of the names like Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss are perhaps not a surprise, few would have had Dorries, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps or Attorney General Suella Braverman at the top of any such list.

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has also been slapped with a ban – despite remaining on the periphery of the UK’s response – while backbencher Theresa May will no doubt be baffled to receive such an accolade, nearly three years after leaving office.