Top Tory Nadine Dorries has dramatically stepped down as an MP in an act of revenge against Rishi Sunak.
Ms Dorries, a fanatical Boris Johnson backer and Sunak critic, announced in February that she would not contest the next election.
But today she said she would quit immediately, triggering a by-election in her Mid Bedfordshire seat.
Only hours earlier she'd insisted she wouldn't spark an early vote in her constituency. But tonight she hinted "something significant did happen to change my mind".
Rumours had been swirling in Westminster for months that Ms Dorries was in line for a peerage in Mr Johnson's long-awaited resignation honours - but she was not named on the list published today.
Ms Dorries and former Cabinet Minister Alok Sharma were said to have been originally in the mix - but were blocked by No10 to avoid two potentially damaging by-elections.
Ms Dorries, a fanatical supporter of Boris Johnson and major Rishi Sunak critic, decided to quit anyway, even without a peerage.
The former Culture Secretary, 66, told TalkTV: "I'm not altogether happy with the way the party has conducted itself over the last year.
"I'm not happy with the events that took place removing Boris Johnson. There are just things I'm unhappy with and I feel a sense of relief."
She also issued a veiled warning to Mr Sunak, whom many Johnson allies blame for his downfall.
She said: "A Prime Minister doesn't have the ability to change the list of a former Prime Minister. The list that Boris had was agreed with Rishi and that was done.
"Can you imagine if Rishi suddenly decided 'I am going to remove somebody from Boris' list?'
"He would be setting a precedent that has never been set before.
"A Prime Minister doesn't do that. They'd be a very foolish prime minister who tampered with the list of a former Prime Minister because he'd end up not getting his own nominations through."
Her rural Mid Bedfordshire constituency is viewed as a Tory safe seat, with Ms Dorries scooping a 24,664 majority at the December 2019 general election.
She won the seat in 2005 and the Conservatives have held it since 1924.
However, Lib Dem insiders have talked up their chances of raiding Tory heartlands in recent months and could target the snap ballot.
A Liberal Democrat spokesperson said: “This is a rural seat in the heart of the blue wall, we are in it to win it.”
Shabana Mahmood MP, Labour’s National Campaign Coordinator, said: “After 13 years of failed Tory government, it’s time for a change.
"The departure of Nadine Dorries shows Rishi Sunak is too weak to lead a Tory Party that has lost interest in the people of Mid Bedfordshire. It doesn’t need to be this way.
"Labour will be campaigning to win in this by-election by listening to the voters the Tories are ignoring.”
Ms Dorries said in February that she would step down as an MP and used her announcement to slam the "MPs who drank Kool-Aid and got rid of Boris Johnson".
She claimed the behaviour of her fellow Tories had pushed her to leave.
A one-time I'm a Celebrity... Get me out of Here' contestant, Ms Dorries may be best known to some Brits for failing a ‘Bug Burial’ trial by cockroaches before becoming the first to be voted off in 2012.
The 66-year-old was also one of the first MPs to get Covid in 2020.
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