Nadine Dorries resigns: Conservative MP attacks PM as she quits Commons

More than two months after saying she was resigning from government “with immediate effect,” Nadine Dorries has finally quit the Commons. 

She launched an attack on the prime minister in her resignation statement, saying “history will not judge you kindly.” She accused PM Rishi Sunak of abandoning “the fundamental principles of Conservatism” and said the country was now run by a “zombie Parliament”.

Dorries was the MP for Mid Bedfordshire. She announced her intention to quit on 9 June. She was receiving a £86,584 salary as an MP and started to come under pressure to act on her promise to resign as she had not spoken in the Commons since June 2022. 

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is expected to appoint Dorries to the historical position of Steward and Baliff of the Tree Hundreds of Children on Tuesday – the arcane mechanism by which MPs can leave the Commons before an election. 

This will enable the Conservative Party to call a by-election in Mid Bedfordshire.