Nadine Dorries is failing her constituents, suggests Prime Minister

The former Culture Secretary has not formally quit in Mid Bedfordshire despite saying she would go with ‘immediate effect’ in June
Rishi Sunak
Rory Arnold/No 10 Downing Street
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Nadine Dorries is “failing her constituents” by refusing to officially hand in her resignation, the Prime Minister suggested on Wednesday.

Rishi Sunak said the former Culture Secretary’s voters “aren’t being properly represented” in Parliament because she has not spoken in the House of Commons for more than 12 months.

Ms Dorries announced in June that she was resigning with “immediate effect” after she failed to receive a peerage in Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list.

But she is yet to formally stand down, despite being urged to by her town council, meaning a by-election in the Mid Bedfordshire seat cannot be called.

Hinting that a general election will not come until late next year, Mr Sunak told an LBC call-in: “I think people deserve to have an MP that represents them, wherever they are.

“It’s just making sure your MP is engaging with you, representing you, whether that’s speaking in Parliament or being present in their constituencies doing surgeries, answering your letters.

“That’s the job of an MP and all MPs should be held to that standard.”

Nadine Dorries has still not formally stood down as Tory MP for Mid Bedfordshire
PA Wire

Asked if that means Ms Dorries is failing her voters, Mr Sunak said: “Well, at the moment people aren’t being properly represented.”

After announcing her departure, the arch-ally of Mr Johnson then said she would stay on while investigating why she was denied a seat in the House of Lords.

Meanwhile, she has been hosting a weekly chat show on Talk TV and has written a book titled The Plot: The Political Assassination Of Boris Johnson, to be published days before the Conservative Party conference in September.

Mid Bedfordshire has been held by Tory MP Ms Dorries since 2005 and the Conservative Party generally since 1931, but the Tories are wary of any electoral challenge as they lag far behind Labour in the polls.

Mr Sunak declined to say when he will trigger a general election, with the deadline being the end of January 2025.

But he hinted he could draw out the wait until later in 2024.

Asked whether he could go to the polls in the early half of next year, the Prime Minister said: “I wouldn’t like to speculate but, look, I’ve got a lot to get on with.”

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