RISHI Sunak launched a broadside at Nadine Dorries on Wednesday morning in an extraordinary attack on one of his own MPs.
The blue-on-blue fire came as the Prime Minister was quizzed by callers on LBC radio.
Sunak was asked, in a question that was clearly aimed at Dorries: “What should happen to an MP who hasn’t spoken in Parliament in over a year, and takes months to officially resign?”
On June 9, Dorries announced she would be resigning as an MP with “immediate effect”. However, she has still not formally quit – meaning the process has taken her longer than Liz Truss was prime minister.
According to Hansard, the official record of the UK Parliament, Dorries last spoke in the Commons on July 7, 2022.
In his response, Sunak agreed that Dorries was “failing her constituents” in Mid-Bedfordshire – one of the safest Tory seats in the UK.
Sunak said: “I think people deserve to have an MP that represents them, wherever they are.
“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.”
Rishi Sunak tells Nick Ferrari that Mid Beds constituents "aren't being properly represented" by Nadine Dorries and looks forward to the new Tory candidate replacing her 👀 pic.twitter.com/SiSnoeuXK1
— PoliticsJOE (@PoliticsJOE_UK) August 2, 2023
Asked if that means Dorries is failing her constituents, Sunak said: “Well, at the moment people aren’t being properly represented.”
Dorries has herself been highly critical of Sunak, drawing intense criticism after she tweeted a doctored photo of him stabbing Boris Johnson in the back.
She has also branded the multi-millionaire Prime Minister a “privileged posh boy” and “one of our biggest losers”.
After announcing her intention to resign, Dorries said she would stay on while investigating why she was denied a seat in the House of Lords.
Meanwhile, she is hosting a weekly chat show on Talk TV and has written a book titled The Plot: The Political Assassination Of Boris Johnson, to be published days before the Conservative Party conference in September.
Mid-Bedfordshire has been held by Dorries since 2005 and the Conservative Party generally since 1931, but the Tories are wary of any electoral challenge as they lag far behind Labour in the polls.
Sunak declined to say when he will trigger a General Election, with the deadline being the end of January 2025.
He hinted he could draw out the wait until later in 2024, while some reports have suggested he may opt for a spring vote.
Asked on LBC whether he could go to the polls in the early half of next year, the Prime Minister said: “I wouldn’t like to speculate but, look, I’ve got a lot to get on with.”
