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Nadine Dorries to stand down as MP at next election

The former culture secretary and Boris Johnson backer has criticised Tory MPs who backed Rishi Sunak to take over as PM.

Dominic McGrath
Thursday 09 February 2023 19:43 GMT
Nadine Dorries hit out at her fellow MPs who had forced out Boris Johnson (Kirsty Oā€™Connor/PA)
Nadine Dorries hit out at her fellow MPs who had forced out Boris Johnson (Kirsty Oā€™Connor/PA) (PA Archive)

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Former culture secretary Nadine Dorries has announced she is standing down as an MP at the next general election.

Ms Dorries, who represents Mid Bedfordshire and has been an MP since 2005, hit out at her partyā€™s decision to remove Boris Johnson as Prime Minister as she used her new TalkTV show to confirm her departure.

The Tory MP has been a vocal critic of Rishi Sunak and his Government since he entered Number 10, hitting out again on Thursday at those who ā€œbet everything on a Rishi bounceā€.

Ms Dorries said: ā€œThose MPs who drank the Kool-Aid and got rid of Boris Johnson are already asking themselves the question: who next?

Despite it being a job that Iā€™ve loved for every year that Iā€™ve done it, Iā€™m now off. Oh gosh, Iā€™ve just said it out loud, thereā€™s no going back now

Nadine Dorries

ā€œAnd Iā€™m afraid that the lack of cohesion, the infighting and occasionally the sheer stupidity from those who think we could remove a sitting prime minister, who secured a higher percentage of the vote share than Tony Blair did in 1997, just three short years agoā€¦

ā€œThat they could do that and the public would let us get away with it. Iā€™m afraid itā€™s this behaviour that I now just have to remove myself from.

ā€œAnd so, despite it being a job that Iā€™ve loved for every year that Iā€™ve done it, Iā€™m now off. Oh gosh, Iā€™ve just said it out loud, thereā€™s no going back now.ā€

It has been suggested that Ms Dorries is in line for a peerage, as part of Mr Johnsonā€™s resignation honours list.

But she said: ā€œI have heard nothingā€¦ Iā€™m just getting through the emotional aspect of leaving a job I loved for 19 years.ā€

She said that the former prime minister had urged her to stay on, saying: ā€œHe doesnā€™t want me to goā€¦ he said, ā€˜Nads stayā€™.ā€

Ms Dorries, whose promotion under Mr Johnsonā€™s leadership saw her lead the now-ditched plan to privatise Channel 4 as culture secretary, also courted controversy during her time as an MP, losing the Conservative whip in 2013 as a result of her appearance on ITVā€™s Iā€™m A Celebrityā€¦ Get Me Out Of Here!

In a clip released by TalkTV, she briefly became emotional as she announced the news.

The elite, the faux political intellectuals, you know who Iā€™m talking about - those who believe they know better than anyone else, bet everything on a Rishi bounce... but it never came and it was never going to

Nadine Dorries

ā€œAfter much soul-searching, I have decided not to stand as an MP at the next general election. I love my constituents and Iā€™ve loved serving them ā€“ itā€™s been such an honour for the best part of two decades of my life.ā€

She offered a bleak assessment of where the Conservative Party stands ahead of the next election, expected to be in around 18 monthsā€™ time.

ā€œThe elite, the faux political intellectuals, you know who Iā€™m talking about ā€“ those who believe they know better than anyone else, bet everything on a Rishi bounceā€¦ but it never came and it was never going to. The party was five points behind on the day Boris was oustedā€¦ and that was a poll deficit that would have burnt away like a summerā€™s mist on a morning lawn in the heat of a general election campaign.

ā€œToday itā€™s 24 points behind. And that, my friends, could be described as terminal. It leaves the party boxed into a corner with no exit route.ā€

TalkTV released a clip of Ms Dorriesā€™ announcement ahead of her next show on Friday.

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