Nadine Dorries is set to an earn an extra £22,000 from the taxpayer by clinging on to her job in parliament over the summer – despite have promised to stand down more than a month ago.
The former culture secretary said she would quit her Mid Bedfordshire seat in fury over her failure to gain a peerage in Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list, alleging that “posh boy” Rishi Sunak had blocked it.
The Johnson ally announced on 9 June that she was leaving with “immediate effect”. But she has yet to formally resign – demanding that the Sunak government hand over documents related to the peerage decision before she goes.
Most 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.
“I doubt she will resign now,” one senior Tory told The Independent, saying Ms Dorries was “off her rocker” and wanted to hang around as long as possible to cause the maximum amount of trouble for Mr Sunak.
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.
Having failed to resign in time for a Mid Bedforshire by-election to be called alongside others in Uxbridge, Selby, and Somerton and Frome, some Tory MPs expect Ms Dorries will finally quit in the weeks after parliament returns from recess on 4 September.
One former Tory minister told The Independent: “We’re not having a by-election in Mid Bedfordshire until the autumn now. She wants to inflict maximum harm on Rishi Sunak, so an awkward by-election in the autumn around party conference will do that.”
But another senior Tory said Ms Dorries may try to eke out her spell as a “lingering” MP for much longer, partly to cause trouble for the PM, and partly for the pay.
Nadine Dorries has a sparked guessing game on when she will go— (PA Archive)
“Nadine is getting paid handsomely as it stands and there is nothing for her to gain by quitting soon,” they said. “Either she hangs on until autumn and tries to rock the boat before conference, or she simply sticks with it until the next election. But I can’t see her going anywhere anytime soon.”
Campaigners accused Ms Dorries of “disgraceful behaviour” after it emerged that she has earned almost £145,000 in the past 12 months – from her salary, ministerial severance and outside media work – despite not speaking in parliament for a year.
Ms Dorries is also facing growing calls for a formal investigation over claims she sent a “forceful” message to the UK’s top civil servant demanding to be added to Liz Truss’s resignation honours list.
Cabinet secretary Simon Case revealed on Wednesday that he had reported the ex-culture secretary to the chief whip and Commons speaker over a message sent to him about her blocked peerage. It was said to be “forceful”.
Sir Alistair Graham, former head of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, told The Independent that Daniel Greenberg, the parliamentary standards commissioner, should investigate the matter to see if she had brought the Commons into disrepute.
Labour’s Thangam Debbonaire called on the government to make sure she is “properly investigated”. The shadow Commons leader mocked Ms Dorries for “failing to turn up here for more than a year” while presenting her own TV show, writing a newspaper column and a book. “That is a lot to fit in between strops over being denied a peerage,” she said.
Nadine Dorries has interviewed Boris Johnson on her TV show— (James Veysey/TalkTV/Shutterstock)
Since February Ms Dorries has been presenting a show on TalkTV. She said she would be putting her “23-year political career and experiences at the despatch box to good use” before her inaugural show, which featured an interview with Mr Johnson.
The best-selling author who also writes a column for the Daily Mail, is yet to declare any of her earnings from the show. She did, however, log a £20,500 advance from publisher HarperCollins for an upcoming book about the “political assassination” of Mr Johnson.
All the major parties have selected candidates for Mid Bedfordshire, with the Tories choosing local police and crime commissioner Festus Akinbusoye.
Despite Ms Dorries having a majority of over 24,000, an Opinium poll makes Labour favourites to seize the “blue wall” seat with their candidate leading the Tories by 28 per cent to 24 per cent, with independent candidate Gareth Mackey in third on 19 per cent.
Mr Mackey, an independent Mid Bedfordshire councillor, said he expected Ms Dorries to hold out until the Tory conference in October. “She wants to spread the pain out as much as possible and give Rishi a bloody nose.”
Councillor Mackey said Ms Dorries’ resignation “is probably the most popular thing she’s done” with her constituents, adding: “A lot of people here are disappointed she hasn’t followed through.”
He told The Independent: “There is a sense of anger among constituents. They want to see their representatives out and about. As a local councillor, I’d lose my job if I didn’t show up for work – MPs seems to get away with it.”
Jonathan Paxton, a Lib Dem campaigner from Barton-le-Clay in Ms Dorries’ constituency, said: “She’s swanning around here, there and everywhere doing paid media work. Quite frankly, I think Nadine is a disgrace and we need to get rid of her and find someone local to do the job.”
No 10 has insisted that Mr Sunak and his team had nothing to do with changes made to Mr Johnson’s resignation list, pointing to the role of the House of Lords appointment commission (Holac) in approving honours.
Ms Dorries has been approached for comment.
