Nadine Dorries has accused the Government of making a "desperate" attempt to try and block her book on Boris Johnson's "assassination" just days ahead of its publication.
The former culture secretary was asked to share a pre-publication transcript to allow the Cabinet Office to vet any confidential material, but after receiving legal advice she refused, the Daily Mail reports.
Under the Government's Radcliffe Rules, ministers should relinquish all Government material when ceasing to hold a role and set out limits on access to official papers by former ministers.
On Thursday evening, Ms Dorries received a letter warning her that by refusing to share the transcript, it would be "taken into account" if she was ever considered for a peerage, according to the Daily Mail.
The letter from Simon Madden, the director of propriety and ethics at the Cabinet Office, allegedly said: "As we have received no transcript of your book from you or your publisher, after a number of requests, we have no option but to consider you in breach of the Radcliffe Rules.
"We have to inform you that this may be taken into account should you find yourself under consideration in the future for an honour (including a peerage) or for a public appointment."
The Standard has approached the Cabinet Office for comment.
Speaking to the Daily Mail in response to the letter, Ms Dorries said: "I took extensive and exhaustive legal advice over the issue of the Radcliffe Rules. Of course, my publishers would have insisted I comply, if I was required to do so.
"The book is not about me, or my previous role as a secretary of state. It is not a memoir in any remote sense of the word and has zero to do with policy or official secrets."
She added: "I knew that by writing it, I would be punished and that my nomination for the House of Lords would be scuppered.
"I then resigned as an MP and now, after many letters to myself from the Cabinet Office, numerous negative briefings to the media and endless attempts over the past year to destroy my reputation, flailing in a last desperate attempt to stop the book being published, they fire this last pathetic salvo."
Ms Dorries previously said: “When I started this book, I had no idea of the journey I was embarking on. But the more people I talked to in the heart of Westminster, the deeper the story unfolded. If you thought that power flowed from the people into parliament, be prepared to think again.”
If you want to know what was really happening… pic.twitter.com/APB5MRXG9X
— Rt Hon Nadine Dorries (@NadineDorries) October 31, 2023
Ms Dorries, a staunch ally of Mr Johnson, handed in her resignation in September which saw her former Tory constituency of Mid Bedfordshire become a Labour seat following a by-election.
Her departure came after weeks of pressure to act on her June 9 pledge to step down with "immediate effect”.
Her resignation came with a scathing attack on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, claiming he presided over a “zombie Parliament”.
Ms Dorries, who was born in 1957 in Liverpool and grew up on a council estate, has written more than a dozen books during her career, including The Four Streets fiction series and The Lovely Lane collection – both of which are set in post-war Liverpool.
The Plot: The Political Assassination of Boris Johnson will be released on November 9.
