Dorries blames dyslexia for ‘mocked’ gaffes

NADINE DORRIES has blamed her dyslexia for her “downstream” and “tennis pitches” gaffe as she said she found the criticism she received was tough.

The Culture Secretary was mocked online after appearing in a video on social media in which she talked about “downstreaming movies” online when she meant “downloading”, and referred to tennis courts as “tennis pitches”.

Describing her role in a TikTok video posted by Conservative MP Dr Luke Evans, Ms Dorries had said: “We’re responsible for making sure you have superfast broadband… that means you can downstream your movies.”

Ms Dorries went on to say that the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is “responsible for everything to do with sport, making sure you’ve got football pitches and that you have tennis pitches in your communities.”

In a series of tweets posted on Saturday, Ms Dorries attributed the gaffe to her dyslexia. “I’ve found it tough seeing commentators and media outlets mock me for something that is beyond my control,” she said.