Nadine Dorries is under increasing pressure to quit as an MP after her local town council called on her to vacate her seat “immediately”.
The former culture secretary promised in June to quit “with immediate effect”, but has since clung on and refused to clarify when she now plans to step down.
She has not spoken in parliament since June 7, 2022, and her constituents have accused her of failing to hold a surgery since before the Covid pandemic struck. MPs are not required to attend parliament or hold surgeries once they have been elected, with one, the late former Labour member Sir Stuart Bell being dubbed Britain’s laziest MP for not holding a constituency surgery for at least 14 years.
And the town clerk of Flitwick, in Ms Dorries’ Mid Bedfordshire seat, was last week asked to write to the MP after a meeting of the independent town council - which says it “has a long history of operating on a nonpolitical basis”.
Stephanie Stanley was asked to raise “the council’s concerns and frustration at the continuing lack of representation for the people of Mid-Bedfordshire at Westminster”.
Ms Stanley accused the staunch Boris Johnson loyalist of being “firmly focused” on her Talk TV show, an upcoming book on the former prime minister’s downfall and “manoeuvres to embarrass the government” for not awarding her a peerage.
Nadine Dorries was one of Boris Johnson’s closest allies— (UK Parliament)
Councillors in the Mid Bedfordshire town, home to 13,800 of Ms Dorries’ constituents, said her behaviour is “not in line” with principles of integrity, honesty and accountability.
“Our residents desperately need effective representation now, and Flitwick Town Council calls on you to immediately vacate your seat to allow a by-election,” Ms Stanley said.
The letter was forwarded to the chairman of Ms Dorries’ local party and Tory chief whip Simon Hart.
Ms Dorries announced she would quit in a huff on June 9 over her failure to gain a peerage in Mr Johnson’s resignation honours list, alleging that “posh boy” Rishi Sunak had blocked it.
She later delayed her resignation, demanding that the Sunak government hand over documents related to the peerage decision before she goes.
Tory MPs now expect her to wait until later in the year before finally exiting parliament. But some fear she will try to cling on all the way to the general election, likely to be in autumn 2024.
She is expected to remain in her job over parliament’s summer recess, which starts on 20 July – the same day as three by-elections are held in Tory seats. This would give her at least three months’ worth of her £86,000 salary – close to £22,000 before tax – since her resignation pledge.
Labour’s candidate to replace Ms Dorries in any by-election said Mid Bedfordshire residents are “sick of being taken for granted”.
Alistair Strathern said: “They want proper representation and a local MP who puts them first.”
