A COUNCIL leader has launched a scathing attack on Nadine Dorries as she formally quit as a MP, saying she has “rarely ever been seen” in her constituency.
The former culture secretary, who handed in her resignation over the weekend, has now officially quit the Commons - months after pledging to resign “with immediate effect”.
It means the Tories will have to fight yet another by-election, this time in Mid Bedfordshire which is a seat the party has held since 1931.
Adam Zerny, the independent leader of Central Bedfordshire Council said there is a "great degree of relief" among Dorries’s constituents that she has officially resigned from Parliament.
Speaking to Matt Chorley on Times Radio, he said: "There's a great degree of relief amongst the many people who are constituents that finally this may be over and we may soon find that we have an MP that actually cares about the local community.
"She's rarely ever been seen in the area. And I think we've had very much the impression that what she cares about is her own life and her life at Westminster rather than Mid Beds."
He said Dorries was the only MP from the local area not to make contact with him after he became leader of the council in May 2023.
"When I became leader back in May, I received emails, phone calls from the local MPs who wanted to make contact, have conversations, discuss local issues,” he said.
“I've had nothing from Nadine Dorries. She was the only one that didn't make contact in any way.
“And frankly, there's never been the slightest indication that she has any interest in the council."
Dorries has formally quit as an MP after the Treasury confirmed Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has appointed her to be Steward and Bailiff of the Three Hundreds of Chiltern, the archaic mechanism for quitting the Commons.
Her official exit means a motion called a “writ” can be moved when Parliament returns on September 4, giving between 21 and 27 working days for the by-election.
Labour and the Liberal Democrats are already campaigning for the seat, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak facing the prospect of another difficult electoral test for the Conservatives in a nominally safe constituency.
The departure of Dorries came after weeks of pressure on her to quit and act on her June 9 pledge to step down with “immediate effect” in protest at not getting a peerage in Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list.
The Johnson loyalist resigned over the weekend with a scathing attack on Sunak.
