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Nadine Dorries stands down as MP with immediate effect Nadine Dorries stands down as MP with immediate effect
(about 1 hour later)
Tory former minister and MP for Mid Bedfordshire says it is ‘time for someone younger to take the reins’Tory former minister and MP for Mid Bedfordshire says it is ‘time for someone younger to take the reins’
Nadine Dorries, the Conservative former culture secretary, has announced she is standing down as an MP with immediate effect.Nadine Dorries, the Conservative former culture secretary, has announced she is standing down as an MP with immediate effect.
She made the announcement in a tweet after having reportedly been dropped from Boris Johnson’s resignation honours. She made the announcement in a tweet after having reportedly been dropped from Boris Johnson’s resignation honours. The move means there will be a byelection in her Mid Bedfordshire constituency where, in 2019, the Conservatives won a 24,000 majority.
The move means there will be a byelection in her Mid Bedfordshire constituency, where in 2019 the Conservatives won a 24,000 majority. It will be the first byelection where the Tories will seek to retain a seat since Rishi Sunak became prime minister in October 2022.
It will be the first byelection where the Tories will be seeking to retain a seat since Rishi Sunak became prime minister in October 2022. Dorries tweeted: “I have today informed the chief whip that I am standing down as the MP for Mid Bedfordshire with immediate effect. It has been an honour to serve as the MP for such a wonderful constituency but it is now time for someone younger to take the reins.”
Dorreis tweeted: “I have today informed the chief whip that I am standing down as the MP for Mid Bedfordshire with immediate effect. Dorries, a staunch Johnson loyalist, had previously detailed her plan to quit as an MP at the next election. Hours before her dramatic announcement, Dorries told TalkTV that “the last thing I would want to do would be to cause a byelection” in her seat.
“It has been an honour to serve as the MP for such a wonderful constituency but it is now time for someone younger to take the reins.” Speaking to the broadcaster, where she hosts a chatshow, on Friday morning, Dorries said she had not heard anything but did not expect to be entering the Lords “any time soon”.
More details soon … “I know nothing,” she said. “There is a process and the last thing I would want to do would be to cause a byelection in my constituency. I don’t believe I will be going into the House of Lords any time soon.”
Her next TalkTV show is due to air on Friday.
The Times earlier reported Dorries, as well as Sir Alok Sharma, the president of the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow, were struck from Johnson’s trimmed-down honours list to avoid damaging byelections as they would have stood down to take the peerages.
The prospects of such an electoral test would be more challenging for the prime minister in Sharma’s marginal Reading West constituency, where he has a 4,000-vote majority over Labour.
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Dorries, who has been an MP since 2005, has been a vocal critic of Sunak’s government since he entered No 10 and is to release a book on the downfall of Johnson.
After her promotion to culture secretary under Johnson’s leadership, Dorries led the now-ditched plan to privatise Channel 4.
She was no stranger to controversy during her time in parliament, losing the Conservative whip in 2013 as a result of her appearance on ITV’s I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!.