Michael Fabricant’s response to No 10 ‘blackmailing’ Tory rebels was not the slam dunk he might have thought
Just when Boris Johnson’s week couldn’t get any worse, it just did – a lot worse – after a senior Tory MP accused government ministers of ‘blackmail’.
Conservative MP and Commons committee chair William Wragg alleged that ministers, whips and advisers have intimidated and attempted to blackmail colleagues who they suspected may oppose Boris Johnson.
WATCH: Tory committee chair William Wragg MP accuses No 10 of blackmailing backbenchers who have considered calling for vote of confidence in the PM. pic.twitter.com/TLyohZMill
— Joe Pike (@joepike) January 20, 2022
It goes without saying that it’s a huge developing story, but we’re here for one particular bit of it, the riposte it prompted from Wragg’s fellow Conservative MP, Michael Fabricant.
And it’s fair to say it wasn’t the slam dunk he presumably thought it was.
Here are our 19 favourite things people said about it.
1.
In his defence, my client does this sort of crime all the time. https://t.co/e3Cvfcquqf
— James Felton (@JimMFelton) January 20, 2022
2.
WOKE 2019 intake tory MPs can't handle a bit of blackmail https://t.co/pwvOqPrN6w
— Jon Stone (@joncstone) January 20, 2022
3.
— Toby Earle (@TobyonTV) January 20, 2022
4.
gonna commit so many crimes that the police decide it's too much effort to investigate them https://t.co/7MKoPCFKzE
— Siobhán Moore (@SiobhanMoore90) January 20, 2022
5.
Thanks so much for the feedback everyone on my character 'Michael Fabricant' I was worried it was a bit too over the top and unbelievable, but I guess a silly man with a blonde ferret on his head slots right into the incompetence and blackmail of our current government.
— Rosie Holt (@RosieisaHolt) January 20, 2022
6.
"I threaten colleagues" is a truly exceptional defence https://t.co/bm1SeetGjR
— Ava-Santina (@AvaSantina) January 20, 2022
7.
Same with me and murder. If you do enough crimes, the police can’t actually keep up. Nice work MF https://t.co/9OcptjjcUa
— Richard K Herring (@Herring1967) January 20, 2022
8.
Michael Fabricant comments on William Wragg's accusations of blackmail. pic.twitter.com/sM6p6pqIAV
— Sooz Kempner (@SoozUK) January 20, 2022
9.
Stand by for:
1. This did not happen.
2. It did happen, but the Prime Minister knew nothing about it.
3. The Prime Minister knew about it, but it wasn’t technically blackmail.
4. It was blackmail, but the Prime Minister wasn’t told that blackmail was against the law. https://t.co/stOkehR2MF
— The Secret Barrister (@BarristerSecret) January 20, 2022
