Nadine Dorries resigns as Tory MP with scathing assault on Rishi Sunak
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adine Dorries has resigned her parliamentary seat with a scathing assault on Rishi Sunak, accusing him of betraying Conservative rules and “demeaning his office by opening the gates to whip up a public frenzy” in opposition to her.
The Tory former minister had introduced in June that she would stop the Commons with “immediate effect” in protest at not getting a peerage in Boris Johnson’s resignation honours listing, however did not observe by way of till now.
Her exit triggers a difficult by-election for the Prime Minister in her Mid Bedfordshire constituency this autumn, amid a polling droop for his celebration.
The clearly orchestrated and virtually day by day private assaults demonstrates the pitifully low degree your Government has descended to
Ms Dorries on Saturday mentioned she had submitted her resignation letter to Mr Sunak, publishing the blistering textual content in The Daily Mail, for which she writes a column.
However, it’s understood Downing Street has not obtained formal discover of her resignation.
In her letter, she accused Mr Sunak of main assaults on her leading to “the police having to visit my home and contact me on a number of occasions due to threats to my person”.
“The clearly orchestrated and almost daily personal attacks demonstrates the pitifully low level your Government has descended to,” the previous tradition secretary wrote.
She additionally closely criticised his file in Government, saying: “Since you took office a year ago, the country is run by a zombie Parliament where nothing meaningful has happened.
“You have no mandate from the people and the Government is adrift. You have squandered the goodwill of the nation, for what?”
Ms Dorries accused Mr Sunak of abandoning “the fundamental principles of Conservatism” and mentioned “history will not judge you kindly”.
The staunch ally of former premier Mr Johnson has angered voters, Opposition MPs and a few in her personal celebration by remaining in put up since asserting her intention to resign greater than 10 weeks in the past.
She mentioned she was delaying her exit whereas she investigated why she was refused a seat within the Lords.
In current weeks, a rising variety of Tory MPs had spoken out in opposition to her, with Tom Hunt accusing her of exhibiting “extraordinary” entitlement for failing to formally stop.
Labour, the Lib Dems and two city councils in her constituency – Shefford and Flitwick – urged her to go.
Constituents complained that she was “making a mockery” of them along with her absenteeism as she had not spoken within the Commons since June 2022 and final voted in April.
Mr Sunak beforehand mentioned Ms Dorries’ voters weren’t “being properly represented”, however didn’t transfer to expel her.
In an interview with the The Mail on Sunday, Ms Dorries mentioned it was “nonsense” her constituents have been ignored and that she was “disappointed” the Prime Minister made feedback to that impact.
In her letter, Ms Dorries claimed she had first knowledgeable Cabinet Secretary Simon Case of her intention to resign in July final yr, however that shut allies of the Prime Minister “have continued to this day to implore me to wait until the next general election rather than inflict yet another damaging by-election on the party at a time when we are consistently twenty points behind in the polls”.
She mentioned the ebook she has written titled The Plot: The Political Assassination Of Boris Johnson – to be printed in September, “exposes how the democratic process at the heart of our party has been corrupted” and led her to conclude she may now not stay as a backbench MP.
Ms Dorries instructed Mr Sunak in her letter that Labour chief Sir Keir Starmer “does not have the winning X factor qualities of a Thatcher, a Blair, or a Boris Johnson, and sadly, Prime Minister, neither do you.
“Your actions have left some 200 or more of my MP colleagues to face an electoral tsunami and the loss of their livelihoods, because in your impatience to become Prime Minister you put your personal ambition above the stability of the country and our economy.”
Labour and the Lib Dems are hopeful of overturning Ms Dorries’ 24,000 majority within the by-election in Mid Bedfordshire, which the Conservative Party has held since 1931.
Lib Dem chief Sir Ed Davey mentioned: “The people of Mid Bedfordshire deserve better than this circus act that has followed the Conservatives these past few months.”
Downing Street declined to remark.