NADINE Dorries has become the most high-profile Tory politician to call for a General Election, challenging the Prime Minister to win a “whole new mandate” for her radical agenda.
The former culture secretary, who backed Boris Johnson to the last and is now tipped for a seat in the House of Lords, has said Liz Truss “must” go to the country to win support for her policies, which mark a departure from her predecessor.
Dorries complained that key and controversial policies of hers – such as the privatisation of Channel 4, the Online Safety Bill and the review of the BBC licence fee – had been “signed off” and “ready to go” but had been parked by the new administration.
It comes after Truss was forced into a humiliating U-turn on her flagship policy of borrowing huge sums to fund tax cuts for the super-wealthy, which spooked international markets and nearly triggered a financial crisis.
Widespread dismay at the fact that 3 years of work has effectively been put on hold. No one asked for this. C4 sale, online safety, BBC licence feee review - all signed off by cabinet all ready to go, all stopped. If Liz wants a whole new mandate, she must take to the country. https://t.co/xKtcnZyVYi
— Nadine Dorries (@NadineDorries) October 3, 2022
Dorries tweeted: “Widespread dismay at the fact that 3 years of work has effectively been put on hold. No one asked for this.
“C4 sale, online safety, BBC licence feee review - all signed off by cabinet all ready to go, all stopped.
“If Liz wants a whole new mandate, she must take to the country.”
She was responding to comments by Rachel Wolf, the co-author of Johnson’s winning 2019 Tory manifesto, reported by The Mirror.
The paper’s Lizzy Buchanan reported Wolf as saying Truss had won the recent leadership election “due to perceived loyalty to” the former prime minister.
But she added: “She makes the point that this Govt has neither a democratic or Parliamentary mandate.”
The Tories’ political opponents have challenged Truss to go to the electorate with her radical economic plans, amid projections which put Labour on course to win a thumping majority in England and Wales at the next Westminster elections.
