Nadine Dorries has been severely criticised by a powerful Commons committee for claiming Channel 4 used actors in a reality TV programme about poverty.
The former cabinet minister made the astonishing allegation while being quizzed by the digital, media, culture and sport committee in May.
In a report published today, the committee said her claims were “groundless” and that she has only been spared a full sleaze probe because she is no longer a minister.
Dorries was one of four MPs who took part in Tower Block of Commons, where each of them spending a week living on a different housing estate in 2010.
During her evidence session, in which she was questioned about her plans to privatise Channel 4, claimed her hosts were planted by the show’s producers, and that a “pharmacist or somebody that I went to see who prepared food” was also a paid actress.
Dorries, who was culture secretary at the time, told the Committee: “The parents of some of the boys in that programme contacted me and came here to have lunch to tell me that the boys were in acting school.
“They were not really living in a flat—they were not real. They were actually actors.”
Channel 4 carried out an investigation into her claims, which found that neither they or the company who made the prgramme, Love Productions, found “any evidence to support the allegations made” by the minister.
Asked by the committee to respond, Dorries said: “I set out my experiences on taking part in the programme in my comments during the select committee and stand by those remarks. I do not wish to add anything further at this time.”
A report published today by the committee said: “We do not find either the original claims, or the clarifications, to be credible and have seen no corroboration of her claims that Channel 4 and Love Productions used actors in a reality television show.
“In contrast, the detailed investigation carried out by Channel 4 gives us confidence that her claims are groundless.
“We are concerned Ms Dorries appears to have taken an opportunity, under the protection of privilege, to traduce the reputation of Channel 4.
“Had Ms Dorries remained secretary of state, driving a policy of selling the channel, we may have sought a referral to the privileges committee but, as her claims have not inhibited the work of the committee and she no longer has a position of power over the future of Channel 4, we are, instead, publishing this report to enable the House, and its members, to draw their own conclusions.”
Committee chairman Julian Knight said: “We recognise that those giving evidence will occasionally make mistakes, but it is vitally important for the integrity of parliamentary scrutiny that they are then corrected.
“We are disappointed that despite being provided with several opportunities to reconsider her position, the former secretary of state failed to countenance that her recollections may have been flawed.
“People will be able to draw their own conclusions about the contrast between her claims and subsequent correspondence with the committee, and Channel 4’s thorough investigation.”
Dorries told HuffPost UK: “I’d like to know how much public money was spent on what is a crock of total nonsense.”