The Tory MP and former minister Nadine Dorries has resigned her Commons seat and accused Rishi Sunak of “demeaning his office” by speaking out against her.
Two-and-a-half months after first announcing her intention to step down as MP for Mid Bedfordshire in protest at not receiving a peerage, Dorries on Saturday accused the prime minister of abandoning “the fundamental principles of Conservatism”, telling him: “History will not judge you kindly.”
Dorries, using parliamentary terminology for an MP’s resignation, added: “I shall today inform the chancellor of my intention to take the Chiltern Hundreds, enabling the writ to be moved on 4 September for the byelection you are so desperately seeking to take place.”
The Treasury confirmed it had been notified of Dorries’ intention to step down.
Her decision opens the way for another awkward byelection for the Conservatives in what should be an ultra-safe Tory seat. In 2019 Dorries won the seat with a 24,664 majority over Labour.
However, Sunak’s party is still reeling from the loss to Labour of Selby and Ainsty, in North Yorkshire, in a byelection earlier this summer. In that contest Labour overturned a Tory majority of just over 20,000, suggesting that even the safest seats are now vulnerable.
In a scathing resignation letter published in the Mail on Sunday, Dorries accused Sunak of putting her personal safety at risk by “whipping a public frenzy against her” and disclosed that police had visited her home last week, warning her about a threat to her security.
Dorries, who was elected as an MP in May 2005, added: “What exactly has been done or have you [Sunak] achieved? You hold the office of prime minister unelected, without a single vote, not even from your own MPs.
“You have no mandate from the people, and the government is adrift. You have squandered the goodwill of the nation, for what?”
In further comments directed at Sunak, she wrote: “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.
“Bewildered, we look in vain for the grand political vision for the people of this great country to hold on to, that would make all this disruption and subsequent inertia worthwhile, and we find absolutely nothing.”
Dorries announced her intention to quit parliament when Johnson stood down as an MP in early June. However, she caused confusion by refusing to resign formally, and irritation by continuing to draw an MP’s salary. Justifying her actions, she said she was waiting for an explanation as to why Johnson’s proposal that she should get a peerage was blocked.
Sunak recently criticised Dorries for failing to represent her constituents properly, telling LBC: “I think people deserve to have an MP that represents them … 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.”
Asked if that meant Dorries was failing her constituents, Sunak said: “Well, at the moment people aren’t being properly represented.”
Frustration with her had also been growing among Tory MPs and in her constituency, who accused her of being absent while continuing to receive her taxpayer-funded salary of £86,584.
The outgoing MP, a staunch ally of Sunak’s predecessor Boris Johnson, last spoke in the Commons more than 400 days ago and has voted only six times so far this year.
“Dosser Dorries” banners have been erected in nearby Flitwick where, last month, the town’s councillors demanded the MP resign, saying she had not held a surgery in the area since 2020.
That meeting, at the private members’ Flitwick Club on 6 March, just four days before Dorries became the first MP to be diagnosed with coronavirus, was the only time the former health minister had held a surgery there, according to its barman Paul Copperwheat.
In response to the criticism, Dorries’ office said she no longer lived in the Mid Bedfordshire constituency, or held in-person constituency surgeries, because of security reasons connected to a stalker. The MP held regular Zoom-based surgeries, it said. Asked when the last such virtual surgery took place, there was no response.
Recently a campaign group called for an investigation after a poll suggested more than 50% believed her absence as an MP and failure to quit had significantly damaged parliament’s reputation.
Tom Brake, the director of Unlock Democracy, called for an inquiry after the Opinium survey found 55% of people thought Dorries had caused significant damage by failing to speak in parliament and delaying her decision to quit.
Dorries last made a written contribution in parliament when she laid a ministerial statement in September 2022, as Boris Johnson handed over to Liz Truss as prime minister. She last voted in the House of Commons in April and has been absent for most votes since last September.
