An MP previously involved in multiple disputes with the regional press has been appointed Culture Secretary.

Nadine Dorries, pictured, has taken over the role in Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Cabinet reshuffle.

HTFP reported last July how Ms Dorries, who was at the time Minister for Mental Health, accused the Liverpool Echo of publishing “fake news” about her.

The Echo had revealed a government contract covering coronavirus tests in England did not require operator Deloitte to share the results with national or local health bodies, a claim disputed by Ms Dorries at the time.

But Echo political editor Liam Thorp debunked the MP’s claim by directing her to a direct quote she had made in Parliament just days before its story was published.

In 2015, the MP for Mid Bedfordshire took Bedfordshire on Sunday to the Independent Press Standards Organisation over a story which stated she would not attend a hustings event if rival Independent candidate Tim Ireland attended.

Ms Dorries disputed the newspaper’s assertion that “no further action” had been after she had previously made a complaint to police about Mr Ireland, as well as claiming inaccurate biographical details about her rival had been published by Bedfordshire on Sunday.

Her complaint was dismissed by IPSO after the watchdog found the paper was entitled to publish biographical material provided by a candidate, and that Ms Dorries had not disputed that the Crown Prosecution Service had taken no further action in relation to her complaints.

Oliver Dowden, who had been Culture Secretary since February last year, has been appointed co-chairman of the Conservative Party and will now hold the role of minister without portfolio at the Cabinet Office.