Nadine Dorries has formally stepped down from her parliamentary position after an 11-week delay, during which she strongly criticized Rishi Sunak, coinciding with his upcoming challenging by-election. In June, the former Tory minister had initially announced her immediate resignation from the Commons as a protest against not receiving a peerage in Boris Johnson’s honours list. However, she had not acted on this until now.
In her resignation letter, she accused the Prime Minister of forsaking Conservative principles and jeopardizing her personal safety by generating a “public frenzy” against her. She lambasted the orchestrated and frequent personal attacks as indicative of the government’s distressingly diminished standards. The Treasury confirmed being informed of Dorries’ intention to step down. She is expected to be appointed to the historical role of Steward and Bailiff of the Three Hundreds of Chiltern, leading to a by-election in her Mid Bedfordshire constituency.
In a scathing statement published in The Mail on Sunday, where she also writes a column, Dorries castigated Sunak for abandoning the fundamentals of Conservatism and predicted that history would judge him harshly. She criticized the lack of meaningful progress in the country since Sunak’s assumption of office and challenged his mandate from the people. She blamed him for squandering national goodwill and asked what it had achieved.
Facing mounting pressure to fulfill her vow to resign, Dorries had delayed her departure while investigating the reasons behind her denied seat in the Lords. In her resignation letter, she accused Sunak of leading attacks against her that led to police intervention due to threats against her. She accused the government of orchestrating these daily attacks.
While Mr. Sunak had previously remarked that Dorries’ constituents were not being adequately represented, he had not moved to expel her. Other parties and constituents had urged her to step down, criticizing her absence from Parliament since June 2022 and her last vote in April.
Dorries’ letter also mentioned that she had informed Cabinet Secretary Simon Case of her resignation intention in July of the previous year. However, allies of the Prime Minister had urged her to wait until the next general election to avoid a damaging by-election while the party lagged behind in the polls.
Dorries’ forthcoming book, titled “The Plot: The Political Assassination Of Boris Johnson,” claims to expose the corruption of the democratic process within her party, contributing to her decision to resign from her backbench MP position. In her letter to Sunak, she criticized both him and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, claiming neither possessed the qualities of leaders like Thatcher, Blair, or Boris Johnson. She blamed Sunak for jeopardizing the stability of the country and economy for personal ambition.
Labour is hopeful about overturning Dorries’ 24,000 majority in the upcoming by-election, while the Liberal Democrats also see a chance for victory. Despite the challenge, they consider themselves prepared for the task. Downing Street declined to comment on the matter.