Nadine Dorries says historian's new book backs up her claim that a Tory fixer plotted to bring down its leaders - and warns he may still be pulling the strings

News | Mail Online · collected 2026-09-06 · by Glen Owen
Read the original at News | Mail Online ↗

Summary

Historian Sir Anthony Seldon's new book, Sunak At 10: The Last Conservative Prime Minister?, suggests that Tory official Dougie Smith plotted to bring down Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak from power. According to the book, Smith held a No 10 pass from 2010-2024 and allegedly helped both leaders gain power before plotting against them. Sir Anthony writes that in 2022, Smith advised Sunak to quit as Chancellor and told him "Boris is going down." Nadine Dorries has cited the book as vindication of her own claim made in her 2023 book The Plot.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-06, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
13
claim-shaped sentences
Uncertain
38%
5 of 13 hedged
Leaning
Leans strongly right
of the writing, not the subject
Publisher trust
57.6
red-flag proxy, not a credibility rating
Outlets on this story
1
Politics
Narrative spread
1
articles carrying this framing
Analyzed 2026-09-06 · how these are computed

AI analysis (generated at analysis time, not now)

Story summary

Nadine Dorries, a Tory MP, claims that a Conservative Party official named Dougie Smith conspired with others to bring down several of the party's leaders, including Boris Johnson. This claim is backed up by a new book written by historian Sir Anthony Seldon, who says that Smith helped Johnson and current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak gain power before plotting against them. According to the book, Smith even advised Sunak** to resign as Chancellor in 2022, saying "Quit now. Get clear of this shit-show. Boris is going down." This allegedly sabotaged Johnson's leadership.

Written for “Tory Party Leadership Plotting” on 2026-09-07, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The article's own words the score was based on. Each is quoted verbatim and was checked against the article text before being stored, so you can find it in the original.
Score +0.85 Confidence high
Leaning score +0.85 for article 5367 (high confidence, 2 verified quotes) · logged 2026-09-06

Story

📰 Tory Party Leadership Plotting
Politics · 1 article(s) covering the same event. This is the one the site leads with.

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans strongly right and hedges 38% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
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Publisher

News | Mail Online · 186 article(s) · 2 correction(s) detected
SignalValueWeight
Correction rate 0.011 0.4
Uncertainty density 0.090 0.25
Assertive mismatch rate 1.000 0.35
Running correction rate · 2 correction(s)
2026-09-07
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2026-09-06
Clarifications and corrections

Who wrote this

Glen Owen
7 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
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🔮 - See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source Nadine Dorries says a new book by historian Sir Anthony Seldon vindicates her claim that a Tory fixer plotted to bring down its leaders – and warns he may still be pulling the party's strings.
2026-09-06 · mixed framing · Nadine Dorries says historian's new book backs up her claim that a Tory fixer plotted to bring down its leaders - and warns he may still be pulling the strings
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More on this subject from Glen Owen
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All 7 articles by Glen Owen →

Topics

Daily Mail Tory the Conservative Party

Subjects

Smith PERSON · 5× Tory NORP · 5× Sunak PERSON · 4× Anthony Seldon PERSON · 3× Dorries PERSON · 3× Dougie Smith PERSON · 3× Johnson PERSON · 3× Anthony PERSON · 2× Boris Johnson PERSON · 2× Nadine Dorries PERSON · 2×

Narrative

In his book, Sunak At 10: The Last Conservative Prime Minister?, Sir Anthony says Mr Smith helped Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak to gain power but then plotted to bring them down.
framing: mixed · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-06
🔮 - See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source Nadine Dorries says a new book by historian Sir Anthony Seldon vindicates her claim that a Tory fixer plotted to bring down its leaders – and warns he may still be pulling the party's strings.
2026-09-06 · News | Mail Online
Nadine Dorries says historian's new book backs up her claim that a Tory fixer plotted to bring down its leaders - and warns he may still be pulling the strings · mixed framing

Claims (13 extracted, 5 hedged)

- See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source Nadine Dorries says a new book by historian Sir Anthony Seldon vindicates her claim that a Tory fixer plotted to bring down its leaders – and warns he may still be pulling the party's strings. uncertain
he → see → strings
In 2023, Ms Dorries described in her book The Plot how a small group of men had been controlling the party's destiny. asserted
group → describe → destiny
She said Tory official Dougie Smith conspired with Michael Gove and Dominic Cummings to bring down Boris Johnson and he also wreaked havoc on Iain Duncan Smith, Theresa May and Liz Truss. uncertain
he → say → Smith
They denied the claims. uncertain
They → deny → claims
Now Sir Anthony has detailed the role played by Mr Smith, who held a No 10 pass from 2010-24. asserted
who → detail → 2010
In his book, Sunak At 10: The Last Conservative Prime Minister?, Sir Anthony says Mr Smith helped Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak to gain power but then plotted to bring them down. asserted
Johnson → say → them
He writes that, in 2022, when Mr Sunak was considering whether to resign as Chancellor to try to force Mr Johnson out of No 10, Mr Smith told him: 'Quit now. asserted
Smith → write → him
Boris is going down. asserted
Boris → go → ?
Nadine Dorries says a new book by historian Sir Anthony Seldon vindicates her claim that a Tory fixer plotted to bring down Boris Johnson Top Tory official Dougie Smith - said to be part of 'the movement' controlling access to the Tory leadership In 2023, Ms Dorries described in her book The Plot how a small group of men had been controlling the party's destiny Mr Sunak quit and soon after Mr Johnson was gone. Once Mr Sunak became PM, Mr Smith allegedly told him to take tougher action on immigration, saying his policies 'won't f***ing work' and he was 'finished'. uncertain
he → say → immigration
Ms Dorries said: 'I am delighted that Anthony Seldon has verified what I [wrote]. asserted
I → say → what
Dougie Smith has run the Conservative Party for years. asserted
Smith → run → years
'He decides who will be leader of the party, who will be PM and for how long. asserted
who → decide → party
Kemi Badenoch may discover it won't be too long before Smith is working to remove her, if he isn't already.' uncertain
he → discover → her
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