Carol Vorderman branded a ‘dictator’ in fiery outburst as TV host forced into humiliating climbdown

Hands has called on Vorderman to apologise, claiming her tweets are “defamatory and damaging” after she spoke about his involvement in a lifestyle firm being awarded a £25.8 million personal protective equipment (PPE) contract in 2020.

It comes after emails obtained by the Good Law Project show Hands was approached on his personal email account by Mark Higton – a former chairman of the Hammersmith Conservatives – on April 7 2020 with information about a contact offering PPE and ventilators, before the Chelsea and Fulham MP Hands passed the offer on to officials.

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Luxe Lifestyle was subsequently awarded a contract to supply gowns and masks.

Greg Hands is not the only one to have taken aim at Vorderman over the tweets, with the Queen of Clean now coming to his support.

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Speaking on GB News, Woodburn said the debacle should end with Vorderman losing her job.

“Carol Vorderman is a dictator. She should lose her job”, she told Dan Wootton.

“She has gone on for too long, she has no right to suggest to the MP that they were giving away a contract for favours, it was a disgusting thing to do and it won’t be forgotten.

“She had no right to do it, she has got far too big for her boots, she’s made remarks lately that have been appalling and she should be fired.”

Hands has posted on the social media site to say he is “delighted” the tweets have been removed and called for Vorderman to apologise.

Carol Vorderman posted: “I’ve been contacted by Greg Hands MP in response to my tweets about his involvement in the granting of a Covid-19 healthcare contract to Luxe Lifestyle in 2020.

“While the awarding of this contract was unfortunate, and there remain serious questions about the VIP Lane, I’m happy to accept Mr Hands’ assurance that his role in the process was simply to refer the approach to the JACT, and that there was no impropriety on his part.”

Hands shared an image of Vorderman’s statement, along with a message saying: “After a six month campaign of defamation & vilification, @carolvorders has today finally withdrawn her allegations.

“She accused me of ‘illegal corruption’, phoning a friend to say ‘here’s a nice little £25.8m PPE contract for you mate’ & having my ‘hands in the cookie jar’.

“These tweets were defamatory and damaging.

“I am delighted that today she has removed 22 false and defamatory tweets, videos & more.

“Also, the JACT was not ‘a VIP Lane’ – it was the Government’s official collection point for such offers.

“She should now apologise.”