Tories Confront Another Important By-election with Nadine Dorries’ Long-Awaited Resignation

The Conservative Party is facing another potentially damaging by-election after Nadine Dorries formally resigned 11 weeks after saying she’d quit.

Ms. Dorries, an arch loyalist of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, launched a scathing attack against Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Saturday in her letter of resignation, saying he has “no mandate from the people” and has “squandered the goodwill of the nation.”

Her constituency, Mid Bedfordshire, has been held by the Conservatives since 1931, but with Labour leading in national polls, the Tories would be anxious, especially after having lost two safe seats in July.

Related Stories

The Conservatives did manage to avoid a by-election wipeout by holding on to Mr. Johnson’s old Uxbridge and South Ruislip seat but with a much-reduced majority.

It’s understood the Treasury will facilitate Ms. Dorries’s exit from the House of Commons under the archaic process of being appointed to be Steward and Bailiff of the Three Hundreds of Chiltern on Tuesday.

This will enable the writ to be moved when Parliament returns on Sept. 4 for a by-election.

The Conservatives’ challenge in Mid Bedfordshire could be compounded by voters’ frustration over Ms. Dorries’ absenteeism as she has not spoken in the Commons since June 2022 and last voted in April.

On Aug. 17, Shefford Town Council urged her to quit, accusing her of having “scant interest” in her constituency. It came after councillors from Flitwick Town Council called on her to go in July, stating her focuses were “firmly” on her “television show, upcoming book, and political manoeuvres to embarrass the government for not appointing [her] to the House of Lords.”

Both councils are led by independents.

Ms. Dorries said on June 9 that she was resigning from her seat “with immediate effect” on Twitter, now called X, hours before her former boss Mr. Johnson stood down.

She found out on the same day that she was removed from Mr. Johnson’s resignation honours list, meaning she wouldn’t be given a seat in the House of Lords.

Ms. Dorries decided to delayed her formal resignation to wait for an explanation. She has also accused Mr. Sunak of blocking her.

Bitter Attacks

In her letter of resignation, which was also published in the Mail on Sunday, Ms. Dorries said she’s “proud” to have increased the Tory majority in Mid Bedfordshire.

She told Mr. Sunak he had ditched Mr. Johnson’s policies and “abandoned the fundamental principles of Conservatism.”

She also blamed the prime minister for widening the gap between the Conservative Party and Labour in polls and accused him of putting his “personal ambition above the stability of the country and our economy” in his “impatience to become prime minister.”

“It



Source link