Nadine Dorries kept waiting for Tory whip to be restored

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/nov/27/nadine-dorries-rebuild-bridges-tory-whip

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Nadine Dorries has been put on notice that she must "rebuild bridges" with her constituents and fellow MPs if she is to be brought back into the Conservative fold after her controversial appearance on TV show I'm A Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!

The outcome of a brief meeting with chief whip Sir George Young on Tuesday means Dorries will have to sit as an independent MP in the Commons before a further meeting in the next fortnight.

The MP for Mid-Bedfordshire had the Tory whip suspended earlier this month after triggering a barrage of criticism when it emerged she had flown out to Australia while parliament was sitting to become the first serving MP to take part in the jungle-based reality show.

Over the weekend, an unrepentant Dorries branded the decision to suspend the whip "ridiculous". After returning from Australia on the eve of the meeting with Young, she appeared confident matters would be sorted, telling ITV Anglia: "I have not had the whip withdrawn – the whip has temporarily been suspended while I was abroad. And I hope that will be fully reinstated tomorrow."

Her expectations were dashed when she was told by Young that she first had to rebuild trust and show some contrition. A spokesman for Young said after the meeting: "The whip has not been restored and nor will it be until she proves that she can rebuild bridges with her constituents, her association and her parliamentary colleagues."

Another meeting will be held within the next fortnight when Dorries will need to give a progress report before a final decision is made.

After talks with Young which she described as "good-natured", Dorries remained confident she would soon have the whip restored.

"I think we will be fine with the whip," she told BBC Three Counties Radio, which covers her constituency. "We had a very good-natured, a very happy meeting. We have adjourned the meeting and we are reconvening this time next week, if not before."

Dorries insists she informed the former chief whip Andrew Mitchell of her absence. But the party stands by Mitchell's claim that he was neither asked nor did he agree to Dorries going to Australia for a month to take part in the show.

Dorries insisted she wanted to carry on in parliament. "Of course I want to be an MP," said Dorries. "An MP is not doing a job, it is a life choice. If I didn't want to make that life choice I wouldn't be doing it, I can assure you."

However, unless she regains the whip, she will not be able to stand again as a Tory candidate.

Despite the controversy, she said she still had a "huge amount of support" in her constituency. "I have come back to a considerable number of emails - in excess of 700 emails - the majority of which are very positive and very complimentary," she said.

Others have been less so, according to Budge Wells, the deputy chairman of the Mid-Bedfordshire Conservative Association. He said the office had received a number of emails about Dorries' participation in the show. "Most of the emails are not praising her for what she has done," he said. "It's been a very difficult time for everybody."

A meeting about how to move on was likely next week. "The constituency office is trying to get the executives together for next week," said Wells. "We will, of course, invite Nadine Dorries to the meeting and we will listen to what she has to say. Hopefully we can come to a conclusion as to how to move on."

Wells added: "She needs to establish a rapport with the constituency. I don't want to pre-empt anything until we have listened to her."

Dorries' comments over the past few days in a round of media interviews may do little to soften disapproving colleagues and constituents. On Sunday, she told Iain Dale on LBC radio it was "ridiculous" the whip had been suspended and suggested that criticism from some female MPs may have been due to jealousy.

On Monday, she told the BBC regional news programme, Look East, that her appearance on the show meant she was now possibly the best known MP in Britain.

Prior to I'm a Celebrity … being aired, Dorries insisted the show was an opportunity to prove that politicians were normal and to raise awareness about issues such as reducing the abortion limit to 20 weeks. Despite most of her views being edited out of the ITV show, Dorries suggested greater attention would be paid to her political views.

Dorries, who was shown eating an ostrich's anus and camel's toe in a bushtucker trial, told Look East: "Since I've come out of there, I'm possibly apart from the major players in politics, such as David Cameron and William Hague, possibly the best known MP in Britain. And what that does mean is when I talk about issues like abortion and euthanasia and ageism, which I'm known for, rather than people listening to me for three seconds, they may listen for three minutes because they now know who I am."

In an interview with her local newspaper, the Times & Citizen, she described reaction to her decision to "spend my holiday" on a reality show as "slightly hysterical".

Dorries is paid £65,738 a year as an MP and confirmed she would donate a month's salary to local play schemes for children in her constituency. She dismissed reports that her appearance fee had been £40,000 as massively exaggerated. "The final amount is still to be decided," she said, "but anything I do get from doing the programme, which is subject to Australian withholding tax, will be declared in the register of members' interests."