Nadine Dorries in 'first TV interview since resigning'
Nadine Dorries has formally quit as an MP after finally handing in her resignation over the weekend.
The Treasury confirmed Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has appointed her to be Steward and Bailiff of the Three Hundreds of Chiltern, the archaic mechanism for exiting the Commons.
The former culture secretary tweeted the confirmation saying she had a “new job”.
The Boris Johnson loyalist resigned last Friday with a scathing attack on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Ms Dorries had announced in June that she would quit the Commons with “immediate effect” in protest at not getting a peerage in Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list but had failed to follow through for 11 weeks.
In her blistering resignation letter, Ms Dorries said Mr Sunak had abandoned “the fundamental principles of Conservatism” and said “history will not judge you kindly”.
She wrote: “Since you took office a year ago, the country is run by a zombie Parliament where nothing meaningful has happened.
“You have no mandate from the people and the Government is adrift. You have squandered the goodwill of the nation, for what?”
The Tory former minister told Mr Sunak that Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer “does not have the winning X factor qualities of a Thatcher, a Blair, or a Boris Johnson, and sadly, Prime Minister, neither do you”.
She went on: “Your actions have left some 200 or more of my MP colleagues to face an electoral tsunami and the loss of their livelihoods, because in your impatience to become Prime Minister you put your personal ambition above the stability of the country and our economy.”
Ms Dorries had come under mounting pressure in recent weeks – including from fellow Tory MPs – to act on her vow to resign on June 9.
She said she was delaying her exit while she investigated why she was refused a seat in the Lords.
Her formal exit paves the way for a by-election to be held in her Mid Bedfordshire constituency within weeks in a fresh headache for Mr Sunak.
Labour and the Liberal Democrats are already campaigning for the seat.
Her formal resignation means a motion called a “writ” can be moved when Parliament returns on September 4, giving between 21 and 27 working days for the by-election.
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