A powerful Tory known as ‘Dr No’ had a rabbit cut up and nailed to the owner’s home in a Mafia-style warning to an ex-girlfriend, according to an explosive new book.
The astonishing claim is one of a string of revelations in The Plot: The Political Assassination of Boris Johnson, by former Cabinet minister Nadine Dorries.
The most anticipated political book of the year, it is being serialised exclusively in the Mail from tomorrow.
Ms Dorries last night accused the Government of a ‘desperate’ bid to halt publication after Whitehall officials said her refusal to reveal its contents could lead to her being blacklisted from public jobs, including a peerage.
The Cabinet Office told her to hand over a pre-publication copy to allow them to vet any confidential material – but she declined to do so.
Nadine Dorries has made a string of revelations in her new book about the the ‘political assassination’ of Boris Johnson. Pictured: Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson with Nadine Dorries on his last day in No 10 Downing Street
Former culture secretary Nadine Dorries (pictured) has revealed in her new book that a powerful Tory known as ‘Dr No’ had a rabbit cut up and nailed to the owner’s home in a Mafia-style warning to an ex-girlfriend
Nadine Dorries’ ‘The Plot: The Political Assassination of Boris Johnson’ is the most explosive political book of the year and is being serialised in the Mail
Ms Dorries sets out in dramatic detail how a sinister cabal of influential fixers, advisers and ministers were allegedly responsible for ousting Mr Johnson.
It claims that the same shadowy figures have been secretly controlling the party for more than two decades.
Central to the cabal, according to the book, is a man who Ms Dorries refers to only by the name of the James Bond villain Dr No. Ms Dorries writes: ‘He is paid by Central Office, has a pass to No 10 and, some say, Rishi Sunak doesn’t move without first seeking his advice. And yet people can spend years working in No 10 and never hear his name mentioned.’
Dr No (file image) has been employed at the top of the Conservative Party since the 1990s, with full access to Downing Street
Dr No has been employed at the top of the Conservative Party since the 1990s, with full access to Downing Street, and has been working in the shadows of every administration, including those of David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak.
Ms Dorries says: ‘Dr No was once on remand in prison for alleged arson. When a girlfriend ended their relationship, it is rumoured that he had her little brother’s pet rabbit chopped into four and nailed to the front door of the family home to greet him when he got home from school, in true Mafia style.’
The Mail has spoken to the brother in question, who confirmed that ‘something happened’ to his rabbit when he was a child, around the time that his sister split up with Dr No. He said: ‘I definitely had a rabbit, and I don’t now.’
Asked if his parents had said anything about what happened to the pet, he said: ‘They don’t want to talk about the rabbit, they’ve kept the same line. That I had a rabbit, and then I didn’t have a rabbit, which is normal with pets.’
Ms Dorries, who was culture secretary under Boris Johnson, stood down as the MP for Mid Bedfordshire earlier this year, triggering a by-election which led to Labour overturning the largest Tory majority since 1945.
Ms Dorries (pictured in January 2022) said Dr No been working in the shadows of every administration, including those of David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak
She has been highly critical of Rishi Sunak’s leadership, accusing him of abandoning ‘the fundamental principles of Conservatism’. She is equally unsparing in her book – suggesting that the Prime Minister was installed in No 10 at the behest of Dr No and his network after they had dethroned Mr Johnson.
She writes: ‘Each time a new party chairman or a treasurer came along and looked at the books in Central Office, they asked ‘Who are these people we are paying an extraordinary amount of money to as employees of CCHQ [Conservative Campaign Headquarters]? Who is this one, Dr No? He never comes in and why has no one ever met him? I’ve never met him. Has anyone ever met him?’
Ms Dorries says: ‘For a man with a secretive past, he appears to have trouble keeping clear of the authorities. Dr No loves violence too. If ever there is a demonstration in Downing Street and he’s in there, he will slip out of the back door into the street and he seeks out the violent clashes. He doesn’t take part, he just cruises around and watches.
‘It really is quite remarkable, over 40 years, only a handful of people who have been in No 10 could point him out to you. If a staffer ever asked, ‘Who is that man?’ as he shuffled past, there would be no answer forthcoming.
‘Someone who has had the misfortune to run up against him said to me ‘He’s just a very bad man with an evil mind, and in politics every prime minister needs a man just like him by his side’.’
Giving more details about the alleged arson, she writes: ‘Dr No was said to have tried to set fire to a house when people were sleeping in their bed. There was a whole family in the house at the time, including a child.’
Ms Dorries, who is a columnist for the Mail, also claims that Dr No uses ‘dirty dossiers’ as ‘one of his favourite modes of operation’.
She quotes a source as saying that Dr No deployed the tactic against Tory former prime minister Liz Truss, comprising ‘mostly sexual, disgusting and untrue, seriously made-up nasty stuff’ which was shown to Mr Sunak.
‘To his credit, Rishi told him not to use it because it would reflect badly on him. But Dr No ignored him, because Rishi wasn’t in charge, they were,’ she writes. ‘Then, when the dossier was considered so appalling that the Press didn’t use it, it was texted to a journalist that ‘we’re keeping this ammunition for use at a later date’.
He meant after she had won the leadership election. She was in the job only a week, and then another dirty dossier was released about her husband, Hugh, a lovely man.
‘This is what Dr No does. He undermines and destabilises people. Even if the dossiers aren’t used, he likes the victim to know they are out there and that someone might just print something and upset their children.
Ms Dorries suggests in her book that the Prime Minister was installed in No 10 at the behest of Dr No and his network after they had dethroned Mr Johnson
Ms Dorries, who was culture secretary under Boris Johnson, stood down as the MP for Mid Bedfordshire earlier this year in an exclusive interview with the Mail (pictured), triggering a by-election which led to Labour overturning the largest Tory majority since 1945
‘And even when they know it’s not true, that worry keeps them awake at night and sinks down deep into their psyche.
‘Dr No fired a rocket deep into the heart of her family and it floored her because, as fictitious as it was, she knew it was out there.’
Ms Dorries also quotes a party veteran, who claims that Dr No ‘fleeced’ a wealthy party donor who was in a dispute about money with him, saying that he took the donor’s ‘gold American Express card for a ride’ and ‘travelled in helicopters, pretended to be setting up a think-tank, trashed his house and spent the money’.
She adds: ‘He was nothing more than a petty crook and now he’s in No 10 and advising the PM.’