Nadine Dorries to repay nearly £17,000 wrongly received as severance pay

Nadine Dorries, who resigned as an MP in August 2023, said she would return the severance pay as soon as possible. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

The former Tory MP Nadine Dorries has said she will pay back £16,876 she received in severance pay because of a mistake by the government.

The former cabinet minister, who resigned and triggered a byelection last year, received the money for her tenure as culture secretary under Boris Johnson. Under current rules it should not be paid to departing ministers over the age of 65, which she turned several months before leaving her job.