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Former culture minister Nadine Dorries has finally followed through on her threat to resign as an MP, condemning Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in a scathing resignation letter.
Her move will trigger an autumn by-election for Sunak’s central Bedfordshire seat, two months after she promised “with immediate effect”.
Dorris, a close ally of former prime minister Boris Johnson, resigned on Saturday after a tirade against the prime minister, who she accused of “abandoning the fundamentals of conservatism”.
She believes Sunak helped oust Johnson and that Downing Street was involved in blocking her appointment to the House of Lords.
In a strongly worded attack, she said Sunak was presiding over a directionless “zombie parliament”, adding that “history will not judge you kindly”.
Doris first announced her intention to resign on June 9 but later delayed her decision, saying she wanted to find out why did not win a title of nobility To that end, she was nominated by Johnson to be on his resignation honors list.
Many Conservative MPs believe she is delaying the announcement to do maximum harm to Sunak, who will now be forced to hold a by-election in the autumn at a time when he is trying to restart the prime ministership.
Both the Liberal Democrats and Labor believe they can win the seat, which Mr Dorris won in 2019 with a majority of 24,664 votes.
Dorris will publish the article on the eve of next month’s Conservative Party conference in an attempt to further turn the tide. a new book That would place the blame on those she believes helped unseat Johnson. Former prime minister Sunak is expected to occupy a prominent position.
Dorries has been heavily criticized by Conservative MPs, including Sunak’s supporters, for downplaying the people of Mid Bedfordshire. She has not spoken in the House of Commons since June last year.
But she insisted that she and her team continue to work on constituency cases, and claimed that criticism of her by top Conservative Party officials had put her personal safety at risk.
Her resignation letter accused Sunak of “degrading his office by opening the door to a public frenzy over her” and said police had to go to her home because “my person was threatened”.
“The apparently well-orchestrated, near-daily personal attacks show how pitifully low your government has fallen,” she wrote.
She attacked the prime minister’s record, adding: “Since you came to power a year ago, the country has been run by a zombie parliament and nothing meaningful has happened. You have not been empowered by the people and the government has gone with the flow. You have wasted the country Goodwill, for what?
“Your actions have exposed some 200 or more of my fellow MPs to an electoral tsunami and loss of livelihood as you rush to become prime minister and put your personal ambitions ahead of the stability of the country and the economy.”
A spokesman for the Conservative Party said the party had “selected a candidate and is readying itself for a by-election campaign”.
A cabinet minister said Dorries’ letter confirmed “a bizarre, almost tragic sense of aristocratic entitlement”.
“Her selfish disregard for voters and the party that has given her so many opportunities is appalling. She needs to realize that politics is about serving the public, not herself,” the minister said.
“However, I wish her and her family the very best in this next chapter of their lives – few colleagues will be saddened by her departure.”
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